Half the asset-management deals done in Q1 2007 have reached across borders. Cross-border transactions have dominated activity in the asset management sector in the first three months of 2007, according to information released by investment bank Putnam Lovell NBF Securities.

Passport, please

"Globalization has arrived in full force," says Ben Phillips, managing director and head of strategic analysis at New York-based Putnam Lovell. "We anticipate robust cross-border activity through the balance of 2007 and beyond as strategic and financial buyers seek to build multi-product asset management groups that can compete for clients worldwide."

Half of the 42 deals were international deals, as compared to nine out of 41 deals done in the first quarter of 2006. The two largest deals this year were the acquisition of Boston-based Putnam Investments by Canada's Power Financial Corporation, worth $3.9 billion, and the buyout of the U.K.'s Jupiter Asset Management by a consortium led by Boston-based TA Associates, worth $1.5 billion.

"In the first quarter of 2007, non-U.S. targets represented $317.8 billion, or 47%, of the $669.7 billion acquired asset total, compared with $53.9 billion, or 7%, of the $752.7 billion total in the year-earlier period," says Phillips.

Over $10.5 billion was spent in takeover deals in the latest full quarter. Last year's Q1 total deal value was $11.3 billion. -FWR

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