Global investment management M&A in 2007 could break the records established last year as long as capital markets "don't lose ground," according to a news release from Putnam Lovell NBF Securities. The strategic catalysts driving the record pace of activity last year - including "more onerous product development demands ... and rapidly changing industry dynamics" - should prove even stronger during the coming year, Ben Phillips, a managing director and head of strategic analysis, said in the release. Growing interest among private equity firms in the sector as well as interest in public listings should also be more apparent this year, the news release said.
For 2006, Putnam Lovell tallied 189 M&A deals involving money managers worldwide, outpacing the previous record of 159 in 2004. The record of $2.646 trillion for assets acquired, which was set last year, roughly doubled the previous record of $1.377 trillion in 2000. Meanwhile the prior record for deal value of asset management transactions, at $30.9 billion in 2000, gave way to 2006's tally of $43.8 billion. The number of deals involving alternative asset managers last year, at 55, likewise swept away the previous record of 30 in 2005.
