Clients of Yanni Partners, a Pittsburgh pension consultant recently fined $175,000 by federal regulators, have been told the firm is being sold to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

The Itasca, Ill., insurance brokerage and risk management firm declined to comment on reports of the pending acquisition. Yanni President Theresa A. Scotti did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Clients were told this week Yanni would be renamed GBS Investment Consulting and that Ms. Scotti and other principals had signed three-year employment contracts.

In addition to the sanctions the firm agreed to in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Scotti agreed to pay a $40,000 fine to settle allegations that Yanni inadequately disclosed its relationships with investment managers to its pension fund clients.

Yanni, founded in 1989, has more than 125 clients in 21 states. Its major business is advising pension funds on how to allocate their investments, select investment managers and evaluate the managers' performances. Based in the Grant Building, Downtown, Yanni has clients that include a labor union representing some Post-Gazette employees.

Until two years ago, Yanni also provided services to investment firms that managed pension fund money. The services included meetings in which Yanni explained to the managers how the firm viewed their products when it was recommending managers to its pension fund clients.

The SEC alleged Yanni did not tell pension funds about the nature of those relationships and the potential conflicts they posed. In some cases, Yanni misled them about those relationships, the SEC said. The investigation, which began in 2005, caused some pension funds, including the Retirement Board of Allegheny County, to dismiss Yanni.

Gallagher has announced 16 acquisitions this year. The publicly traded company posted earnings of $115.4 million for the first nine months of the year, up 11 percent from year-ago levels. Revenue increased 12 percent to $1.25 billion.