On August 1, 2024, BNP Paribas and AXA announced that they entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of AXA Investment Management (AXA IM) and a long-term partnership in asset management. Under the terms of the proposed transaction, AXA will receive overall cash proceeds of €5.4 billion. In addition, AXA and BNP Paribas would also enter into a long-term strategic partnership under which BNP Paribas would provide investment management services to AXA. The signing of the proposed transaction is expected by the end of the year, while the closing of the transaction is expected for mid-2025 after regulatory approval is

Within this article I will outline the main reasons for ETF promoters to liquidate or merge ETFs. In addition to the reasons below there might be several other reasons why an ETF promoter is closing an ETF. Therefore, can the list below not be seen as a complete overview. Lack of Profitability The most obvious and most important reason to close an ETF is a lack of profitability. That said, it is not easy to evaluate if a given ETF is profitable for its promoter or not, since is largely depending of the operational set-up of the respective promoter. Generally

On Tuesday, 19 September 2023, ARK Invest LLC (“ARK Invest” or “ARK”), the parent of ARK Investment Management LLC, has acquired Rize ETF for £5.25m. This transaction can be seen as a major step for the global expansion strategy of ARK Invest, as this will enable them to launch UCITS ETFs on an existing ETF platform. This can immediately be distributed across Europe and in other parts of the world (Latin America and Asia), where UCITS is an acknowledged regulatory standard. The Rize ETF platform will be renamed to ARK Invest Europe. From my point of view the deal makes

On March 19, 2023, UBS agreed to buy troubled rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse in a merger which was engineered by Swiss authorities to safeguard the financial markets and to calm down the turmoil in the global banking sector. Assuming that a merger of the two largest Swiss banks will lead to a merger of their fund and ETF management branches raises the question about the impact such a merger would have on the fund management landscape. Therefore, is a topic of interest to see how the merger of the fund and ETF arms of the two banks will impact

On April 7, 2021, Amundi and Lyxor announced that Amundi is in exclusive talks with Société Générale to buy its asset management arm Lyxor for a total cash consideration of €825m. Following these negotiations, the deal was closed on June 11, 2021. Besides serving as a platform for alternative strategies, Lyxor ETF is the main target of this acquisition, since the merger would create the second largest ETF promoter in Europe. Even as there was a rumor going on, the announcement of the possible sale of Lyxor was a bit surprising. This is because Lyxor ETF had just finalized the

The announced merger between Franklin Templeton Investments and Legg Mason follows a series of other takeovers. It shows that the global asset management industry is further in a consolidation mode, even as the overall assets under management increased massively over the last 10 years. The ongoing corporate activity regarding transactions is driven by the increased pressure on fees for active management, which is shrinking the revenues of asset managers. The trend started in the U.S., but has also reached Europe. One reason for the increased pressure on the revenues of asset managers is the fact that they are no longer

Pulling the plug on its sale to Sinclair Broadcast was a shrewd move for Tribune Media. The U.S. local-TV group is now selling itself to Nexstar Media for $4.1 billion. This go-around looks like a stronger plot, given the higher price and the buyer’s track record. Sinclair secured Tribune’s agreement to a $3.9 billion deal in 2017. To get U.S. regulators to approve the deal, though, it had to sell some stations. Instead of going through a fairly straightforward process, Sinclair raised the hackles of a very friendly Federal Communications Commission with side transactions involving buyers with serious conflicts of

One of Wall Street’s best-known high-frequency trading shops has found a Virtu-ous M&A circle. Doug Cifu’s outfit is embracing diversity by acquiring agency-brokerage and analytics shop ITG. The deal also offers Virtu Financial practically free insurance against a market downturn: Cost cuts are likely to cover most of the $1 bln price tag. Cifu is developing a knack for buying his way out of a tight spot. As becalmed markets slowed Virtu’s core trading business, he beefed up the books last year by snaring rival KCG, which had rebuffed him five years earlier. Migrating KCG’s business onto Virtu’s trading technology

Sky investors on Tuesday received a mini Easter egg. Walt Disney is ready to buy the pay-TV group’s news channel to smooth the regulatory process for merger partner Twenty-First Century Fox. This signal of Disney’s commitment to owning the UK broadcaster boosts the odds of a bidding war with rival Comcast. Rupert Murdoch’s Fox has been stuck in regulatory limbo since late 2016, when the 39 percent shareholder in Sky launched an 11.7 billion pound ($16.5 billion) offer for the rest of the company. Britain’s antitrust regulator said in January the deal could give Murdoch undue influence given his existing

JAB and its partners are taking a gulp from 3G Capital’s fountain. They’re merging Keurig Green Mountain, the coffee-pod outfit it took private in 2016 for $14 billion, with publicly traded Dr Pepper Snapple. It’s reminiscent of how the Warren Buffett-backed architects of Kraft Heinz operate. The strategic novelty is combining different kinds of hot and cold beverages. Financially, what’s a bit unusual is the private Keurig reversing into a publicly listed company. Dr Pepper was worth $17 billion, a bit under $96 a share, at Friday’s close. Investors bid the shares up as much as 40 percent early on

It’s easier for an activist to oppose than propose. That’s the straightforward lesson from Clariant’s struggle with its largest investor, White Tale. The 20 percent shareholder scuppered the Swiss chemicals maker’s merger with U.S. rival Huntsman. Determining what happens next, however, will require powers of persuasion. The $9 billion company announced on Friday that it would lay out a new strategy for investors early in the new year. At the same time, it rejected a proposal by White Tale – which combines Keith Meister’s Corvex and fellow U.S. fund 40 North – to hire an investment bank to lead the

After selling its European exchange-traded commodity, currency, and short-and-leveraged business to Wisdom Tree Investment, Inc. earlier this week, ETF Securities Limited announced on November 15, 2017, that it also will sell its European ETF platform, known as “Canvas” (including the staff members), to Legal & General Investment Management (Holding) Limited (LGIM) for an undisclosed price. Both parties expect the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, to be finalized in Q1-2018. With regard to the strategy of the Canvas platform, LGIM said in the press release about the acquisition that the platform will remain open architecture for differentiated products and