Italy's Pioneer Investments has acquired a 51 per cent stake in the Bank of Baroda's asset management business. The new entity will be known as Baroda Pioneer AMC. The fund house, which is one of the smallest of India's senior asset management firms, is being taken by a business with extensive experience in asset management. Previously, Bank of Baroda funds were managed largely by officers from the parent bank. "Pioneer is a mid-sized fund management company and its entry could be a big change for Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund. Investors should wait and watch," said Dhirendra Kumar, chief executive officer, Valueresearch, an independent firm dealing with mutual fund research. Pioneer, under US management, was the first private sector mutual fund to set up shop in India in 1993. Then it had partnered with Investment Trust of India owned by HC Kothari Group to float Kothari Pioneer Mutual. In 2000, cracks began to appear with the Investment Trust of India (Kothari group) exiting from its ownership stakes in the fund by selling it to the Maloo group. Soon after, UniCredito Italiano of Italy bought the Pioneer group. On completion of the transaction, Pioneer and EuroPlus Research and Management, UniCredito's own asset management division, merged to form Pioneer Investments with $100 billion of assets under management.