Swiss banking group Credit Suisse has agreed to merge its open architecture fund activities with distribution network Allfunds.
The deal comprises the transfer of all shares in Credit Suisse InvestLab, including the service agreements, and the bank’s related distribution agreements to Allfunds Group.
No financial terms were disclosed.
The merger will allow Allfunds to expand its investment in the development of “new services and solutions” for the funds market; namely asset managers, fund distributors and other intermediaries (financial advisers and wealth managers).
Allfunds will increase its presence in Asia and central Europe, including Switzerland, which will become a “key business hub” for the group.
Juan Alcaraz, chief executive of Allfunds, said: “With the combination of InvestLab and Allfunds we are creating a stronger player in the platform and wealth technology space.
“With this combination, we continue our global growth and commitment to enhance our service offering to fund houses and distributors by offering the most innovative technology, digital solutions, and data analytics available in the market.”
Terms of the deal
The combined business will distribute over 78,000 funds and ETFs to more than 700 distributors across 45 countries.
It will have assets under administration of more than €500bn (£448bn, $569bn).
As part of this deal, Credit Suisse will become a minority shareholder of up to 18% in the combined business.
Allfunds will continue to operate independently, with majority ownership held by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman and capital markets business GIC.
InvestLab’s management team will hold senior leadership positions within the combined business and Credit Suisse will use the platform as part of its client offering.
Closing of the transfer of Credit Suisse InvestLab to Allfunds is expected during Q3 2019 and the subsequent transfer of the related distribution agreements is expected to be completed in Q1 2020.
