In an announcement to the Stock Exchange this morning, Henderson said it is to take on the entire issued share capital of Gartmore, adding a further £16.5bn to its own £61.6bn of assets under management held at the end of last year.
The deal will see Gartmore shareholders receive two Henderson shares for every three Gartmore shares. With the closing price on 11 January of 138.2p per share, the acquisition values each Gartmore share at 92.1p. This values Gartmore’s issued share capital at £335.3m.
In terms of ongoing ownership of the new company, Gartmore shareholders will hold around 22.5% of the enlarged capital, Hellman and Friedman will hold around 4.6%.
Should the acquisition go through it will end what has been a very well-documented period of numerous problems for Gartmore, problems that started almost immediately after it floated on the same exchange it has just announced its undoing to a year ago.
Some of those who were at Gartmore during this time have pledged their allegiance to Henderson, with the official announcement saying it has “secured commitments” from managers who run 84% of the existing assets under management.
These include Charlie Awdry and Chris Palmer (emerging markets), John Bennett (European equities), Tony Lanning (multi-manager) and most of the UK equity team including Rob Giles and Adam McConkey (small cap), Luke Newman and Ben Wallace (long/short equities).
In a statement Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson, said of the advantages the acquisition will bring: “We will [also] improve our offering to both sets of clients by expanding our product range, for instance in absolute return.
"The combined business will be one of the largest UK retail fund managers. I am, therefore, confident that it will create significant value."
Proposed timetable
Phase one: deal completion within three months, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and certain conditions
Phase two: client administration integration and brand integration. UK Oeic range – summer 2011
Phase three: fund merger completion. UK Oeic range – summer 2011
