Syndicate Asset Management, one of the fastest growing asset managers in the UK and backed by Icelandic investors, has bought Savoy Asset Ma...

Syndicate Asset Management, one of the fastest growing asset managers in the UK and backed by Icelandic investors, has bought Savoy Asset Management. The deal valued Savoy at around £18.7 million ($33.3 million), although this is based on various conditions. This valued Savoy, which last reported assets under management of £1.1 billion, at around 1.7 per cent of assets under management. The purchase represents the fourth purchase by SAM since last summer and suggests its owners are keen to grow the firm into a major asset manager concentrating on private clients. SAM bought Investment Management Holdings, an independent financial advisor group, for £7.6 million in November. This followed the purchase of The Chartwell House Group in early November and Ashcourt Holdings in September 2005. The deal will give SAM assets under management of £2.4 billion, most of which is private client investments. SAM is backed by a number of prominent Icelandic investment groups, including Equity Special Situations, which has links with Kaupthing Bank. The Icelandic bank last year bought the UK-based Singer & Friedlander, which has a major private client business. Kaupthing Bank has other private client/wealth management interests throughout Europe, particularly in the Nordic region. Another prominent shareholder in SAM is the Icelandic investment company Burdaras, which also has a major holding in Singer & Friedlander. SAM’s takeover of Savoy effectively ends the struggle for control of the group between two opposing factions on the board. The beneficiaries of the deal would appear to be board member Stefan Allesch-Taylor and the 25.5 per cent stake held by Global Investment House, an investment company run for the Kuwaiti Souad al-Sabah family. Mr Allesch-Taylor has been representing the interests of the Global Investment House against those of the chief executive Christopher Saunders and chairman Kenneth Clarke, the former UK Chancellor. Mr Clarke will be leaving his position as chairman and it is believed Mr Saunders will also be resigning as chief executive. Mr Clarke said in a statement: "The offer...provides the added benefit of providing an exit for Global Investment House...and thus resolving, in the best interest of Savoy shareholders, the continuing uncertainty inherent in the Savoy board's relationship with Global."