Sixteen money management deals took place in the first quarter of 2019, an 36% decrease from the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2018, there were 33 transactions. Assets under management involved in the transactions totaled $156.53 billion, down 80% from $780.92 billion in the previous quarter and a decline of 89% from the same period a year ago.
In the first quarter, Brookfield Asset Management agreed to acquire about 62% of Oaktree Capital Group's business for $4.7 billion, with 50% in cash and 50% in 51.4 million Brookfield shares. Howard Marks, Oaktree co-chairman and co-founder, will join Brookfield's board of directors, and the two companies together will have about $475 billion in AUM. Also in the quarter, Fiera Capital Corp. announced the acquisition of Integrated Asset Management Corp. for $74 million. IAM's private debt investment and industrial real estate team will be incorporated into Fiera Private Lending and Fiera Properties, respectively.
Aberdeen Standard Investments agreed to acquire 5% stake in Gresham House with a purchase of 1,309,598 new ordinary shares at 496 pence ($6.56) per ordinary share. The money managers announced formation of a joint venture to invest in small-cap equity. In another deal, Primonial Group is increasing its 40% stake in European money management firm La Financiere de l'Echiquier to 100% ownership. And Carillon Tower Advisers, a multiboutique money manager, announced in February that it will complete its acquisition of ClariVest Asset Management in April. Carillon affiliate Eagle Asset Management purchased a 45% stake in ClariVest in 2012.
There also were nine institutional deals in the quarter that did not involve money managers. Consultant Meketa Investment Group agreed to acquire Pension Consulting Alliance, which has non-discretionary consulting relationships representing more than $1.4 trillion in institutional client assets.
Great-West Lifeco agreed to sell substantially all of its U.S.-based individual life insurance and annuity businesses to Protective Life Insurance for about $1.2 billion. The London Stock Exchange Group agreed to take a 4.92% stake in settlement giant Euroclear Holding, and LSE's €278.5 million investment valued Euroclear at about $6.4 billion. Goldman Sachs Asset Management agreed to acquire Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services, which had about $33 billion in assets under supervision across multiasset, equity and fixed-income strategies. Atlas Merchant Capital is acquiring a 25% stake in Ascensus, a defined contribution record keeper and third-party administrator that has made 11 acquisitions since 2018. Atlas Merchant Capital is founded by Bob Diamond, a former group chief executive of Barclays.
All information is based on transactions reported by Pensions & Investments' global reporting staff.
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