Affiliated Managers Group today announced agreements to acquire majority equity stakes in two asset management boutiques, Gannett Welsh & Kotler and Harding Loevner. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Boston-based GW&K manages more than $7 billion in municipal bond, core taxable fixed income and multicap/small-cap equity strategies. Somerville, N.J.-based Harding Loevner manages about $6 billion in global, international and emerging markets equity strategies.
Sean M. Healey, AMG president and CEO, said his firm is joining with GW&K’s management team to buy the entire ownership interest from the Bank of New York Mellon. At Harding Loevner, AMG will buy a roughly 60% interest from the independent firm’s owners.
BNY Mellon spokeswoman Patrice Kozlowski said in an e-mail GW&K’s business model combining private wealth management and institutional asset management didn’t fit neatly with BNY Mellon’s segregated business model.
Harding Loevner CEO David Loevner said in a news release that the new arrangement should help make his firm’s services available “to a wider range of clients, including institutions overseas.”
Separately, AMG announced that its asset management boutiques had combined assets under management of $241.8 billion as of June 30, down 0.7% from the prior quarter and down 9.4% from the year before. Net client outflows of $2.1 billion more than offset investment gains of $352 million in the quarter.
The holding company’s net income for the latest quarter came to $35.3 million, up 7.6% from the prior quarter but down 16% from the year before. Second-quarter revenues came to $309 million, down 7.8% from the previous quarter and down 6.8% from the year before.
In an earnings conference call, Mr. Healey said AMG’s prospects for adding to its stable this year remain excellent, with capital-hungry financial conglomerates mulling sales of asset management arms and the ranks of other potential buyers thinning in a credit-constrained environment.
