The biggest fund manager M&A in Q3
With the third quarter behind us, Money Management reviews the most notable M&A deals in the fund management space over the past three months.
The three-month period saw the completion of previously announced deals from Australian Ethical and Monash Investors, as well as new bids for potential acquisitions from Regal Partners.
July
Boutique asset manager Merlon Capital Partners acquired the minority stake in its business previously owned by Fidante. However, Fidante remained as the responsible entity of its MCP Australian Share Income Fund, Merlon Australian Equity Fund, Merlon Australian Share Income Fund, and Merlon Concentrated Australian Share Fund. It will also continue to provide fund operation compliance services.
Several days later, Regal Partners announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire a minority interest in Queensland-based Argyle Group, which has $1.4 billion in funds under management and is a specialist asset manager of Australian water entitlement portfolios.
Towards the end of the month, Maple-Brown Abbott (MBA) finalised an agreement to be acquired by Antipodes Partners, creating a firm with $18.6 billion in assets under management. This would see MBA’s global listed infrastructure, Australian value equities, and Australian small companies investment teams operate autonomously under the Maple-Brown Abbott brand, alongside Antipodes’ existing global equities investment team.
August
In August, Pinnacle confirmed its new affiliate – first announced in May – would be called Life Cycle Investment Partners and have an initial investment team of seven staff. The investment thesis of Life Cycle would be style-neutral, long-only global equities.
Pacific Current Group then entered into an agreement to sell 55 per cent of its 24.9 per cent equity stake in private credit manager Victory Park Capital Advisors (VPC) to Janus Henderson Group, as well as 22 per cent of its 24.9 per cent of future carried interest entitlements in VPC’s funds yet to be launched.
In its FY24 results, Magellan Financial Group announced it had acquired 29.5 per cent of the parent company of Vinva Investment Management, Vinva Holdings, for $138.5 million. Speaking on a shareholder webinar, Formica said: “There is significant capacity for Vinva, that’s a real attraction for us, it could be significantly larger than where they are today.”
September
In September, Australian Ethical confirmed it had completed the acquisition of sustainable fixed income manager Altius from Australian Unity. The $5.5 million deal brings Australian Ethical’s funds under management to $12.3 billion.
Platinum Asset Management announced it had received an unsolicited confidential takeover bid from Regal Partners. Several days later, the firm confirmed it had unanimously agreed to reject the bid as it felt the offer did not reflect the value of the Platinum business, but that it was still open to other offers.
Another deal completed during the month as small-cap managers DMX Asset Management and Monash Investors completed its merger, having been in discussions for a year. DMX AM principal Michael Haddad, who manages the DMX Australian Shares Fund, has now joined the portfolio management team of Monash as a co-portfolio manager.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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