Almost 35% of P&I Online readers believe London Stock Exchange Group PLC will keep Russell Investments' asset management and consulting businesses, according to a poll the week of June 30.
After LSE announced the purchase of Russell on June 26, P&I Online asked readers: "What will LSE Group do with Russell’s manager of manager and consulting businesses?"
LSE, which manages the FTSE indexes, purchased Russell for its index business, which together will rank third in terms of exchange-traded fund assets under management. When LSE announced the acquisition from Northwestern Mutual, the London-based company said it hired consultant Casey Quirk to advise it on what to do with Russell's non-index businesses.
Should LSE opt to sell the other businesses, almost 28.6% of P&I Online readers believe strategic buyers will buy the businesses. Another 20.2% of readers believe LSE will spin off the units and 16.8% believe private equity firms will purchase the units.
The top poll result is in stark contrast with what industry executives told Pensions & Investments last week. Most of those sources seem to agree that strategic buyers will ultimately buy the units for anywhere between $700 million to $1 billion, according to a story in the July 7 issue of P&I.
