Cross border M&A activity in the asset management sector is on the increase according to new figures from investment bank Putnam Lovell NBF Securities. Of all the asset management M&A deals in the first quarter, one half were cross-border, up from less than a quarter during the same period last year. The report said that asset managers from Canada, France, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK were prominent in this year's first quarter deal-making. Twenty-one of the 42 asset manager deals in the first quarter involved cross-border transactions, compared with nine out of 41 in the prior year period. The total value of deals in the quarter was $10.5 billion, with over $669.7 billion in assets under management changing hands, compared to the roughly $11.3 billion paid in first quarter 2006 to acquire over $752.7 billion in managed assets. The two largest deals were Canadian insurer Great-West Lifeco $3.9 billion agreement to buy Boston-based Putnam Investments, and Commerzbank's agreement to sell UK-based Jupiter Asset Management to private equity group TA Associates and Jupiter management for around $1.33 billion.