Deals for investment management companies reached a record level globally in the first half of the year, according to data released Monday by Putnam Lovell NBF Securities Inc.
The New York investment bank reported that deals in the first six months this year rose 30%, to 112, from a year earlier.
The disclosed and estimated value of transactions more than doubled, to $32.3 billion, from $13.7 billion, and acquired assets under management increased by nearly one-third, to $1.26 trillion.
By contrast, for all of last year, 191 asset management deals were announced, assets changing hands totaled $2.6 trillion, and disclosed and estimated deal values aggregated $44 billion.
The strong activity in this year's first half was paced by initial public offerings, private equity-led deals, and cross-border transactions, according to preliminary data from Putnam Lovell.
"Clearly, asset management M&A is surging worldwide, with dealmaking in the first half of the year comparable to the entire 12-month period in 2000," Ben Phillips, a managing director and the head of strategic analysis at Putnam Lovell, said. "We expect activity to remain brisk and pricing strong, fueled, in particular, by new buyers from the private equity world, keen appetite for alternative investment skills, and the ambitions of fund companies to expand beyond their home borders."
Putnam Lovell, a subsidiary of National Bank Financial Inc., focuses on the financial services industry. It offers merger and acquisition advice, merchant banking, equity capital markets, equity derivatives, fixed-income trading, and general corporate financial advice.
