Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in late Q1 of 2018.

New York-based firm WisdomTree Investments, an exchange-traded fund and exchange-traded product sponsor and asset manager, has agreed to acquire ETF Securities' European exchange-traded commodity, currency and short-and-leveraged business.

WisdomTree will exchange $253 million of cash and stock consideration of 30 million WisdomTree shares for the acquired business. Based on last Friday's market close price, the total consideration is valued at $611 million, the firm said in a statement. 

WisdomTree expects the acquisition will be "immediately accretive" to its earnings per share.

With the addition of the acquired business, WisdomTree's assets under management would total approximately $66 billion globally, as of 9 November. ETF Securities’ European business has around $17.6 billion of assets under management, as of 9 November.

The firm says it the deal will secure WisdomTree's spot as the 9th largest ETP sponsor globally and elevate the company to the largest global independent ETP provider1 with presence in Europe and the US.

Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in late Q1 of 2018.

 "We are very excited to meaningfully expand and enhance our presence and capabilities in the European market by adding ETF Securities' market-leading commodity platform to WisdomTree's differentiated European product offering," said Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree chief executive and president. "The acquisition will immediately add scale, diversification and profitability to our business in Europe, the second largest ETF market in the world and a growing and strategically important region for us and the entire industry. The addition of this complementary and competitively positioned commodity business is an important development in WisdomTree's strategy to establish itself as a differentiated and diversified ETP provider that can thrive globally and generate long-term shareholder value."

Credit Suisse is acting as financial advisor to WisdomTree and as lead arranger on the debt financing. Goodwin Procter is serving as WisdomTree's legal counsel.