Preliminary agreement has been reached to combine Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management resulting in a global asset manager with 400 billion in assets under management. The agreement had been announced last September by Unicredit‘s ceo  Federico Ghizzoni (see here a previous post by BeBeez), while final closing will be signed subject to the customary regulatory and corporate approvals.
UniCredit and Santander, together with US private equity firmsi Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic, will be then partners in a global asset maanagement group that last year had total combined net inflows of over 25 billion euros,
Juan Alcaraz, current CEO of Santander Asset Management, will be the Global Chief Executive Officer, and Giordano Lombardo, current CEO and Group Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Pioneer Investments, will be the Global CIO of the new company.
The preliminary agreement  (download here the press release) will lead to the establishment of a holding company, with the name Pioneer Investments, which will control Pioneer’s US operations along with the combination of Pioneer and SAM’s operations outside the US. UniCredit and the Private Equity Firms will each own 50% of the holding company, which will in turn own 100% of Pioneer US, and 66.7% of the combination of Pioneer and SAM’s operations outside the US, while Santander will directly own the remaining 33.3% stake. The combined firm will continue to operate as one global entity, led by a single global management team, focusing on meeting the needs of its clients worldwide.
The agreement is based on an Enterprise Value of 2.75 billioneuros  for Pioneer Investments and 2.60 billions for Santander Asset Management (including its 49.5% stake in AllFunds Bank). Furthermore, the transaction is estimated to enhance UniCredit’s capital position by approximately 25 basis points.
The combined new asset management firm will offer an expansive global distribution footprint, with a presence in over 30 countries and exposure to both growing and well-established regions such as Latin America, North America, Asia, as well as a leading position in Europe. In addition to Pioneer and SAM’s longstanding institutional and wholesale third-party relationships, long-term distribution agreements with UniCredit and Santander will result in unparalleled retail distribution capabilities in Europe and Latin America.
