F&C Asset Management is to complete its acquisition of absolute return and multi-manager specialist Thames River by September 1, the company announced today.
The deal, first announced in April, is initially valued at almost £34m, with a further £20m payable by F&C subject to Thames River, whose largest fund range is domiciled in Ireland, achieving various performance and profitability targets.
Nevsky, a Thames River emerging market specialist subsidiary, is not part of the arrangement. It is the demerger of Nevsky from Thames River whcih remains to be completed, though is said to be a formality.
F&C, which was demerged from life company Friends Provident last year, which is itself now owned by Resolution Group, said the purchase of Thames River formed part of a strategy to diversify beyond its traditional core insurance clients into “higher growth and specialist” areas.
“In particular, Thames River will bring to the group strong expertise in managing specialist investments and absolute return strategies, which will complement our existing product range,” said F&C.
Thames River’s ‘multi-boutique’ model under which fund management teams are given investment autonomy and share directly in the profitability of the products they managed, achieved through Limited Partnership structures, would remain, said F&C.
Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C, said: “Since we first announced the transaction we have undertaken detailed integration planning so that as soon as we complete we will move immediately into the implementation phase and seize the significant cross-selling opportunities we believe the combination brings.”
F&C, which also has a property asset management division F&C REIT Asset Management, has three primary centres of asset management; London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. It has offices in a dozen countries and jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, the US and several mainland European countries.
In March 2009 F&C signed a memorandum of agreement with Hua Xia Bank, one of China’s twelve nationwide joint stock commercial banks, to establish a joint venture fund management company in China in which F&C will have a 19.5% interest.
