Money managers collaborate with activists to deal with failing firms

New York

AS A steward of pension funds and retirement accounts, Neuberger Berman has traditionally employed a staid strategy familiar among big Wall Street money managers: Buy and hold stocks, sit back and hope for the best.

But recently, the firm eschewed its nearly 80-year-old tactic of playing nice. Instead it turned to the bare-knuckled world of activist investors made famous by the likes of Carl Icahn and William Ackman.