Amundi Completes Majority Share Stake Acquisition Of Kleinwort Benson Investors

Tom Burroughes

1 September 2016

A transaction in which Amundi Asset Management took at an 87.5 per cent stake in Dublin-based asset management boutique Kleinwort Benson Investors has closed, the firms said yesterday. KBI has been rebranded as KBI Global Investors to reflect the increasingly international scope of its business.

The agreement involving Amundi, Oddo & Cie and KBI was announced first on 23 May. As part of the arrangement, KBI’s key employees will own 12.5 per cent of the business.

Regulatory approval for the deal, from the Central Bank of Ireland, was granted on 28 July.

“Going forward our clients will see very little change as the status quo has been protected, and with many of our key staff now shareholders in the firm, our clients can expect to see renewed continuity and even greater stability in the business. While the name is important in many ways, our culture is also our brand, and that is not going to change,” Sean Hawkshaw, KBI’s chief executive, said in a statement.

KBI has offices in Boston and New York as well as Ireland. It employs 62 people and has €7.6 billion ($8.53 billion) of assets (as of 31 March), mainly in global equities. Clients are spread between institutional, sub-advisory and third-party distributors. North American clients account for 52 per cent of AuM, while Ireland and UK account for 26 per cent, Continental Europe 14 per cent and Asia 8 per cent. Last year, it logged net revenues of €31 million and net income of €9 million.

In a separate deal in March this year, Societe Generale agreed a share purchase agreement with Oddo & Cie to acquire all of Kleinwort Benson and Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands Holdings, BHF Kleinwort Benson Group's UK and Channel Islands wealth management business.