Sales of investment management companies worldwide announced in the first half of 2007 achieved record levels, paced by initial public offerings, private equity-led deals, and cross-border transactions, according to preliminary data from Putnam Lovell NBF Securities Inc., a specialist investment bank focused on the global financial services industry.
The total number of deals in the first six months of 2007 rose almost 30 percent to 112, from 86 in the year-earlier period, Putnam Lovell NBF said. The disclosed and estimated value of transactions more than doubled, to $32.3 billion from $13.7 billion, while the amount of acquired assets under management increased by nearly one-third, to $1.26 trillion from $962 billion in the first half of 2006.
By contrast, for all of 2006, there were 191 asset management deals announced, the amount of assets changing hands totalled $2.6 trillion, and disclosed and estimated deal value reached $44 billion.
“Clearly, asset management M&A is surging worldwide, with dealmaking in the first half of the year comparable to the entire 12-month period in 2000, the bull market high-water mark for transactions in the global investment management industry,” says, Ben Phillips, managing director and head of strategic analysis at New York-based Putnam Lovell NBF. “We expect activity to remain brisk and pricing strong, fueled, in particular, by new buyers from the private equity world, keen appetite for alternative investment skills, and the ambitions of fund companies to expand beyond their home borders.”