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

On May 02, 2024, Tabula Investment Management and Janus Henderson Group announced that they had entered into an agreement under which Janus Henderson would acquire Tabula Investment Management. The acquisition is expected to be completed at the end of Q2 2024, as the transaction is subject to regulatory approval. According to the press release, the acquisition builds on Janus Henderson’s successful active ETF proposition in the U.S., where it is the fourth largest provider of actively managed fixed income ETFs by assets under management. From a product point of view, Janus Henderson expects to retain all existing Tabula products and

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

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many share prices plummet this year.  Extreme volatility has provided an opportunity for activist investors to take a large stake in a company or increase an existing position by purchasing shares at a steep discount.  Activists are a niche group of investors who have a strong view on a company and seek to unlock value by implementing change. This can involve management restructuring and changes to the board of directors. Activist hedge funds have outperformed their peers over the last decade, achieving an annualized return of 4.95%, in comparison to 0.22% for

In the media business, it’s the headline that counts. So it’s little wonder Viacom rejected a takeover offer from CBS, according to Reuters, that looks at first glance like less than the market price. As it happens, Chief Executive Leslie Moonves can easily cough up more thanks to the potential cost savings, while leaving something for his own shareholders.The first thing to know is that the two companies are a natural pair. CBS, which owns its namesake national broadcast station and pay-TV network Showtime, and Viacom, home to MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, were formerly a single group. The

Takeda Pharmaceutical may take a turn at Shire’s risky M&A strategy. The $42 billion Japanese drugs group is mulling a bid for $45 billion takeover machine Shire. There’s not much overlap, and uncertainties hang over key businesses. But Shire is cheap, and its shareholders exasperated. While that may appeal to Takeda boss Christophe Weber, it’s also a warning. Takeda prospered for decades in its cozy domestic market. A declining population, government-reimbursement cuts and increased competition from cheap generic pills have forced Takeda and its peers to look abroad for growth. That’s a difficult prescription to fill. Takeda is large enough

The labors set by King Eurystheus for Hercules were meant to be impossible. The terms Qualcomm has set for hostile suitor Broadcom are in a similar vein. Unless Broadcom boss Hock Tan can call on the same superhuman assistance as the mythical Greek hero, Qualcomm’s gesture of cooperation doesn’t much increase the odds of a successful takeover. Qualcomm’s chairman, Paul Jacobs, said on Monday that with a few tweaks, rival chipmaker Broadcom’s offer of just under $120 billion would be palatable. Most of the requests are pretty reasonable, like boosting the fee Broadcom would pay if a deal fails to

On April 27, 2017, Invesco and Source announced that Invesco Powershares will take over Source for an undisclosed amount of money. The merger itself is not surprising, since the owner of Source—Warburg Pincus—had been looking to sell the company since October 2016. One reason for Warburg Pincus selling off its footprint in the fast-growing exchange-traded fund (ETF) market in Europe might have been a lack of profitability for Source; the company reported a loss of 20 million pounds in its latest annual report (2015). The deal is still pending the approval of the authorities and should be finalized in Q3