There were nearly 100 majority ownership M&A deals among money managers and wealth managers in the first half of 2014, compared to 37 such deals during the first six months of 2013, based on findings by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In addition, the value of the five largest money and wealth manager M&A deals in the first half of the year is approximately $11 billion, well above the $1.3 billion for the top five deals during the first half of 2013.
Sam Yildirim, U.S. asset management M&A leader at PwC, said in a phone interview that the post-recession recovery of the market is bringing M&A deal volumes and values up.
“Money managers are doing well and seeing robust earnings, which encourages buyers,” she said. “Recovery of valuations is bringing them back to the market.”
Ms. Yildirim added that the recovering market also contributed to a number of deals that were slated to be signed last year got postponed to 2014
Looking ahead to the rest of 2014 and into 2015, PwC sees the pipeline of money manager M&A activity being very strong due to increased interest from both buyers and sellers.
“As CEOs are more upbeat about the recovery in both the global economy and in the U.S. market, they’re encouraged to do more deals,” added Ms. Yildirim.
