Asset manager Blackfriars has snapped up BDT Invest in a deal that is expected to be completed next month.

Asset manager Blackfriars has snapped up BDT Invest in a deal that is expected to be completed next month.

BDT said in a statement that the sale had come about because it had failed to raise assets since the financial crisis while regulation was also holding the firm back.

“Like many other small fund management companies, BDT  has struggled to raise assets since the global financial crisis despite decent performance across our range of funds over the past five years,” the company said.

“The hurdles which small boutiques face trying to grow in an increasingly hostile and regulated environment are only getting higher.”

The deal sees Blackfriars - owned by BNY Mellon - acquire BDT’s $500 million (£298 million) of assets and their partners Henry Thornton, Simon Dobson and Stephen Simmons. Rob Brewis, however, will resign.

The move also means Balckfriars has taken on the management of the £33.2 million Establishment Investment Trust as well as the Dublin-based BDT Invest Asian Focus and BDT Invest Oriental Focus fund. The $7.3 million BDT Japanese Focus fund will be closed.

“I know Henry Thornton and the BDT team well and they will be an excellent fit with our business. This next stage of our development sees us broadening our product range to include Asian equity products and helps further strengthen our existing global emerging and frontier market capabilities with additional specialist Asian equity expertise,” said Tom Waring, chief executive at Blackfriars’.