Jupiter Fund Management, a fund manager based in the UK, has confirmed that it is in advanced negotiations to buy UK peer Merian Global Investors from private equity firm TA Associates Management.
The likelihood of such a deal was first reported by Bloomberg, who said that a potential deal could be a cash-stock transaction worth below £500m ($652m).
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According to Jupiter, its own board as well as the Merian board are positive about the consolidation and feel that it would offer “meaningful benefits” for their stakeholders.
“The Board of Jupiter sees this as an attractive opportunity to acquire a high quality independent active manager that would represent a strong fit with Jupiter in both investment management philosophy and culture,” Jupiter said in a statement.
At the end of Merian had AUM of £22.4bn as at 31 December 2019
However, Jupiter stressed that the possibility of a deal materialising is still uncertain.
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By GlobalDataThe takeover, if materialised, would be the first under Jupiter’s new CEO Andrew Formica.
In January 2019, Merian chief Richard Buxton stepped down from his role.
Citing a person familiar with the matter, Financial Times said that Buxton along with other senior Merian portfolio managers would join Jupiter.
Merian, previously known as Old Mutual Global Investors, was spun out from Old Mutual in 2018 in a management buyout backed by TA Associates.
The move is the result of Old Mutual Wealth’s plans to split its fund management operations into two parts as part of a managed separation from parent Old Mutual.
