Cordea Savills, a London-based real estate investment manager, will acquire Frankfurt-based SEB Asset Management for up to €21.5 million ($23.3 million), pending regulatory approvals, said Michael Flynn, Cordea Savills’ Singapore-based head of Southeast Asia and Australia.
Cordea Savills had €7.2 billion in assets under management of Dec. 31, managed out of nine offices in Europe and three in Asia.
SEB Asset Management had €4 billion in institutional funds. The firm had another €6 billion in German open-end funds, which a Cordea Savills news release Thursday said were “in the process of formal liquidation.” The regulatory process is being governed by German regulatory body BaFin.
That liquidation, set in motion after those funds were hit hard during the global financial crisis, will continue after the anticipated closing of the acquisition in mid-2015.
Mr. Flynn said in an interview that the acquisition has particular resonance for the Asia-Pacific region, where it will combine Cordea Savills’ investment platform in Japan with SEB Asset Management’s investment capabilities in Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and China to create a combined business with a scale of more than €2 billion.
The two legacy firms’ businesses in Asia, with Cordea Savills accounting for one-third of the combined total and SEB the remaining two-thirds, are “hugely complementary,” he said.
Mr. Flynn said no decisions have been made at this point regarding the leadership of the combined business in Asia.
