NEW YORK (Dow Jones) ? Bermuda-based investment manager W.P. Stewart & Co. (WPL) will take a fourth-quarter charge of $12.5 million, or 27 cents a share, to reflect the impairment of customer-related intangible assets tied its 1999 acquisition of NS Money Management Ltd.

W.P. Stewart said yesterday the charge stems from a third-party transaction late in the fourth quarter that led to an outflow of about $200 million in assets under management.

Fees on the $200 million supported the NS Money Management assets that W.P. Stewart is now writing down. The company said the outflow was ?not related in any way? to performance.

Analysts, on average, expect W.P. Stewart to earn 33 cents a share for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson First Call. A year earlier, the company earned 48 cents a share.