The acquisition of DNCA would bring €14.6bn (£10.8bn) of assets under management (AUM) from a range of investment strategies, including long-only and absolute return equities, fixed income through convertibles and eurozone bonds and multi-asset.
The announcement cements the group’s New Frontier plans from late 2013, which laid out ambitions to spend €1.5bn (£1.1bn) on acquisitions over the subsequent four years.
News of the bid comes alongside the group’s annual results, which showed a record year for asset management, with AUM up 17% on the year, to €736bn (£543bn).
Natixis Global Asset Management reported €32.5bn (£24bn) record net inflows in 2014, excluding money market funds, comprising €23bn (£17bn) in fixed income €12bn (£8.9bn) in equity products.
The results stated a 160bps improvement in cost/income ratio led to a 19% increase in pre-tax profits, to €561m (£414m) while gross operating profit was up 24% to €569m (£420m).
Laurent Mignon, Natixis CEO, said: “The first year of the New Frontier strategic plan has been highly positive. The re-allocation of our capital toward our core businesses is now virtually complete. All our businesses made progress and exceeded their revenue targets in France and abroad, notably fuelled by excellent performances in investment solutions – asset management and insurance – and by the rollout of the originate-to-distribute model in wholesale banking.
“The construction of our asset-light model is gaining pace. The capital being freed-up is enabling us to respect our dividend payout commitments and fund the growth initiatives underpinning our strategy, particularly the acquisitions planned of DNCA and Leonardo and Co, an expert body in M&A for Midcap, subsidiary of Banca Leonardo. DNCA would represent a major reinforcement to our position in asset management in Europe and make a positive contribution to growth right from 2015.”
