Insight Investment has been sold to BNY Mellon in a £235m deal by parent company Lloyds Banking Group.
BNY Mellon, which runs a multi-boutique asset management business model, said the acquisition would be completed in the fourth quarter and would see its total assets under management swell to more than $1trn with the addition of some £80bn of Insight money.
Insight became part of Lloyds Banking Group when its parent company HBOS, whose brands include Clerical Medical, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, was taken over at the height of the banking crisis last September.
Lloyds already had its own fund management business in the form of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and was thought to be seeking to offload Insight since the deal was completed.
BNY Mellon highlighted Insight’s liability driven investment (LDI), fixed income and alternative investment specialisms, as well as its large institutional client base taking in pension schemes, insurance companies and local authority funds, as being attractive features of the business.
Insight has a range of UK, Ireland and Cayman domiciled funds, targeting the retail and institutional markets, including absolute return, multi-manager, multi-asset and hedge fund portfolios, in addition to more standard equity, fixed and property funds.
Jon Little, vice chairman of BNY Mellon Asset Management, said: “Through its impressive record of innovation, investment skills and new approach to investment management, Insight Investment has been at the forefront of helping its clients resolve the challenges faced by defined benefit pension plans in the UK.
“In a very short time, it has built a market leading position in LDI to add to its already impressive reputation as a leading fixed income manager. We believe that together, BNY Mellon Asset Management and Insight Investment can take these award-winning investment capabilities and expand Insight Investment’s international reach.”
Consolidation
The deal follows yesterday’s takeover of Friends Provient by Resolution, Clive Cowdery’s Guernsey domiciled investment structure created specifically to take advantage of consolidation opportunities in the life and asset management sector created by the financial crisis.
It is widely expected the asset management sector will shrink substantially in the next few years following a period of unbridled growth for much of the past decade.
