Global merger and acquisition activity in the investment management industry in 2006 has already eclipsed previous records in terms of numbe...

Global merger and acquisition activity in the investment management industry in 2006 has already eclipsed previous records in terms of number of announced deals and amount of acquired assets, according to New York-based investment bank Putnam Lovell NBF Securities. The industry has seen 167 deals so far this year up from the previous record of 159 during 2004, according to the bank. And assets acquired have totalled $1.414 trillion so far this year, exceeding the previous record of $1.377 trillion set in 2000. According to the research, the disclosed value of asset management deals so far in 2006 totals $20.1 billion, up from $18.4 billion in 2005. The most active year for global M&A activity in the asset management sector was 2000 when deals worth $30.9 billion were transacted.