mergers and acquisitions

The failed partnership between Italy’s Generali and France’s BPCE is more than a collapsed deal in European asset management. It exposes how challenging it remains for Europe to build financial scale once a project becomes truly cross-border, and how protectionist reflexes, legal uncertainty and unfinished integration can combine to smother a transaction.

Morningstar finds asset managers growing organically deliver better outcomes than those pursuing mergers. Scale alone rarely benefits investors or fund performance.

Saxo Bank has a new majority shareholder: Swiss private bank J. Safra Sarasin, part of the Brazilian J. Safra Group. The private bank is acquiring the stakes held by Chinese automotive group Geely and Finnish asset manager Mandatum, taking its ownership to 70 percent.

The rapidly declining profitability of traditional asset management is driving European fund houses to accelerate their pursuit of smaller players, with private equity firms becoming key targets in a wave of consolidation.

French banks are making significant strides that could reshape the European asset management landscape. The acquisition of AXA Investment Managers by BNP Paribas heralds a new era under Basel III regulations, according to Mediobanca Andrea Filtri. “The once-forbidden dream is now reality, opening new horizons for mergers and acquisitions,” he said.

BNP Paribas Group announced on Thursday that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) from AXA.

Amundi, Europe’s biggest asset manager, is taking a 26.1 percent stake in Texas-based asset manager Victory Capital. The stake is valued at about 800 million dollars.

The ongoing, rapid consolidation in asset management is exposing problems around rebranding. “Crucial” is untangling one’s own story from broader sector narratives, in this jumble of mergers and acquisitions.