Twenty money management deals took place in the second quarter of 2021. In the first quarter, there were 28 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $389.5 billion, down 69% from $1.26 trillion in the previous quarter.
In the second quarter, Amundi agreed to acquire Lyxor from Societe Generale for €825 million ($970 million). Dutch pensions provider APG formed the third-largest wood producer in Chile with British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and South American investment bank BTG Pactual's timber investment group. Pendal Group agreed to pay $320 million for Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley with 75.1% from BrightSphere Investment Group and the remaining 24.9% stake from management. The acquisition of Black Creek Group will increase Ares Management's real estate assets under management to about $29 billion. KKR & Co. agreed to pay 403 pence a share to buy John Laing Group for a total of £2 billion ($2.8 billion) to expand its investments in transportation and global infrastructure projects.
There also were 21 deals in the quarter that did not involve money managers. TA Associates acquired a minority stake in Apex Group, which has $1.1 trillion in assets under administration and custody. Sovereign Fund of Egypt and EFG Hermes Holding acquired 25% and 51% stakes in Arab Investment Bank, respectively. TMF Group acquired U.S. fund administration firm Venture Back Office, and the deal has increased TMF Group's assets under administration to €150 billion ($176.3 billion).
Aon agreed to sell its U.S. retirement consulting business to Aquiline Capital Partners and Aon Retiree Health Exchange business to Alight Solutions for a total of $1.4 billion. In a separate deal, Aon agreed to sell four businesses run by Aon Solutions and Aon Pension Insurance Broking in Germany for an undisclosed amount to LCP. The U.S. Department of Justice sued to block Aon’s acquisition of Willis Towers Watson claiming that merger would reduce competition, lower quality of services and increase prices.
All information is based on transactions reported by Pensions & Investments’ global reporting staff.
