State Street Global Advisors is to acquire Bank of Ireland Asset Management for £50.6 million.
Hedge fund manager State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has agreed to acquire Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) for around €57 million (£50.6 million).
The sale of BIAM formed part of Bank of Ireland’s restructuring plans and is conditional upon regulatory clearance from the European Commission. The acquisition includes net assets of €14 million.
Scott Powers, president and CEO of SSgA, says the acquisition will add the capability for fund management according to stock fundamentals, an addition to the firm’s existing hedge fund business.
BIAM will continue to provide investment products to the Bank of Ireland Group and will remain a customer of Bank of Ireland Securities Services.
Corporate finance advisory firm Hawkpoint Partners advised Bank of Ireland on the sale.
Dublin-based BIAM is the investment management arm of the Bank of Ireland Group. The company provides services to institutional investors and has approximately €26 billion in assets under management and 500 clients. Upon completion of the deal, around 120 BIAM employees will join SSgA in Dublin. In the six months to June 2010, Bank of Ireland declared a pre-tax profit of €116 million on a turnover of €3.8 billion.
SSgA is the asset management business of State Street Corporation, a provider of financial services such as investment management and research to institutional investors. State Street currently has assets under management of $1.9 trillion (£1.2 trillion) and operates in 25 countries. State Street currently has around 2,000 employees in Ireland and recently announced the opening of its new Irish headquarters in Dublin.
