Thirty-two money management deals took place in the third quarter of 2021. In the third quarter of 2020, there were 15 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $1.04 trillion, up 167% from $389.5 billion in the previous quarter.
In the third quarter, real estate developer ESR Cayman Ltd. agreed to acquire ARA Asset Management — with $95 billion in assets under management — for $5.2 billion. Goldman Sachs Group took its alternatives business Petershill Partners public, which was valued at £4bn on the London Stock Exchange, and also agreed to acquire NN Investment Partners for €1.6 billion. StepStone Group agreed to pay $725 million for venture capital Greenspring Associates. Athene Holding and Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire an additional 15% stake in Australian investment firm Challenger for $546 million. Macquarie Asset Management agreed to purchase AMP Ltd.’s global equities and fixed income business for up to A$185 million.
There also were 26 deals in the quarter that did not involve money managers. State Street agreed to acquire BBH Investor Services for $3.5 billion in cash from Brown Brothers Harriman, which had $5.4 trillion in assets under custody. Empower Retirement agreed to pay $3.55 billion for Prudential Financial Inc.'s retirement plan business. MSCI agreed to pay $950 million in cash for Real Capital Analytics. Oxford Properties Group agreed to buy 149 distribution centers from KKR & Co. for $2.2 billion. Transurban Group and some institutional investors will pay A$11 billion for a 49% stake in the WestConnex Sydney toll road project from the New South Wales government.
Aon is required to pay a $1 billion termination fee to Willis Towers Watson after the merger was called off as a result of the antitrust suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice to block the acquisition. Aon's deals to sell its U.S. retirement consulting business to Aquiline Capital Partners, Aon Retiree Health Exchange business to Alight Solutions and four businesses from Aon Solutions and Aon Pension Insurance Broking to LCP were canceled. NGS Super and Australian Catholic Superannuation ended the merge discussions due to changes in Australia's regulatory and commercial environments.
All information is based on transactions reported by Pensions & Investments’ global reporting staff.
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