Assets under management at Henderson Group grew 2.1% in the quarter and 11.2% for the year ended March 31 to £103.1 billion ($128.4 billion) despite one-off institutional outflows related to the firm's upcoming merger with Janus Capital Group.
Henderson said in a trading update Wednesday that net outflows totaled £1.79 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with net inflows of £1.4 billion for the previous quarter. For the year-earlier quarter, the firm recorded net outflows of £679 million.
The impact of market moves and foreign exchange added £4 billion for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a £1.4 billion contribution for both quarters ended Dec. 31 and March 31, 2016.
Institutional assets under management grew 2.6% for the quarter and 20.6% for the year, to £42.7 billion. Institutional net outflows for the quarter totaled £411 million, compared with £854 million in net inflows for the three months ended Dec. 31. For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, net outflows totaled £769 million.
Market moves and foreign exchange added £1.5 billion to institutional assets under management in the first quarter, compared with £366 million in the previous quarter and £1.1 billion for the year-earlier quarter.
The update said new business funded in the first quarter was "offset by one-off redemptions following the merger-related restructure of Henderson's global equities offering. Further new mandates, which were funded in early April, reversed this position." The statement added there remains a "healthy pipeline" of unfunded allocations.
The global equities restructure following the merger announcement happened earlier this year, said a spokeswoman in an email. Moves included the departure of Matthew Beesley, head of global equities. He joined GAM as head of equities. Other members of global equities transferred to different teams.
Henderson CEO Andrew Formica said in the update that the firm had made "substantial progress in preparation" for the Janus merger, announced last year. "It is an exciting time as momentum builds toward the launch of Janus Henderson Investors, which will enable us to significantly increase our distribution reach and investment capabilities." The group is awaiting shareholder approval on April 26.
