Money manager mergers and acquisitions activity in the second quarter increased sharply from the previous quarter, with total assets in transactions at $405.3 billion — up more than 300%. Assets were down around 37% from the second quarter of 2014.
Twenty money management deals took place in the second quarter, up from 12 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2014, there were 24 transactions.
The second quarter had one megadeal, the merger of Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management. The combined firm will have more than $375 billion in AUM. Another deal concerned Lehman Brothers, which is still unwinding after going bankrupt more than six years ago. A 20% interest in D.E. Shaw Group was acquired from Lehman by Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's Hillspire LLC. Neuberger Berman was acquired by management from Lehman Brothers at auction in 2008.
Also in the quarter, Colony Capital went public through an agreement with its publicly traded REIT.
During the second quarter, there were 10 deals that did not involve money managers. Two of note were the merger of Towers Watson & Co. and Willis Group Holdings PLC and the IPO of Virtu Financial.
All information in this analysis is based on transactions reported by Pensions & Investments' global reporting staff.
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