British fund manager River & Mercantile (R&M) has received bids for a potential buyout from rivals Premier Miton, and Assetco.

R&M said that any potential deal is conditional on the completion of its planned sale of the pension business.

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The firm is set to sell its pensions business to Schroders in a £230m deal as part of a strategy to strengthen its focus on the wealth management business.

Premier Miton, which oversees £13.9bn in assets, is exploring the buyout of R&M through the issue of shares.

Premier Miton said in a statement: “Premier Miton has been assessing the merits of a combination with River and Mercantile for a period of time and believes the scale and cultural alignment between the respective businesses would deliver a balanced and resilient business across a diversified product offering, enabling employees of the combined businesses to maximise their potential.”

AssetCo, which recently increased its total stake in R&M to five million shares, holds 85% voting rights in the firm.

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AssetCo chairman Martin Gilbert, who is also the deputy Chairman of R&M, recently resigned his position in the R&M board in view of a potential deal.

AssetCo stated in a regulatory filing: “The AssetCo directors believe that RMG Asset Management and AssetCo are highly complementary and that a combination of AssetCo and RMG Asset Management would create significant value for the combined group’s clients, portfolio managers, employees and shareholders.”

Premier Miton and AssetCo are expected to make offers for R&M before 21 December 2021, according to UK takeover rules.

In May this year, AssetCo signed an agreement to purchase Edinburgh-based Saracen Fund Managers for an effective total consideration of $3.9m