Fortis Adds to Japan Presence with Acquisition

Nick Parmee

26 September 2007

Fortis Investments, the asset management arm of Franco-Belgian Fortis group, has bought Commerz International Capital Management (Japan) from Commerzbank. The transaction, for an undisclosed amount, is subject to regulatory approval but is expected to close on 31 October 2007. CICMJ, active in investment trust management, will be renamed Fortis Asset Management (Japan). Stewart Edgar, head of Asia for Fortis Investments, said “We are delighted to add the CICMJ business to our existing presence in Japan. The acquisition of CICMJ and its successful team allows us to expand our distribution capability more quickly than a greenfield development. We look forward to providing CICMJ’s chief executive, Hitoshi Yamamoto, with the resources to further develop this successful business.” Detlev Dietz, chief operations officer of Commerzbank`s asset management activities, said: “Selling CICMJ is a further logical step on our way to concentrating our asset management activities on our German entity Cominvest. We are happy with the result of our negotiations with Fortis Investments which took place in a most efficient and constructive atmosphere.”