M and A
GAM Shifts Management Company Activities To Apex
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GAM said its fund management services business is now “highly commoditised” and more cost-effective when outsourced.
Zurich-listed GAM
Holding has agreed to transfer its management company
activities in the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg to Apex Group, the financial
services business.
The move has been made, GAM said, to streamline its operations
and focus on investment management. The firm has been
restructuring its business in recent years following client
outflows prompted by the suspension in 2018, and eventual
sacking, of a high-profile manager in 2019.
This transaction is subject to applicable regulatory approvals
and other customary conditions, GAM said in a statement last
Friday.
GAM said its fund management services business is now “highly
commoditised” and more cost-effective when outsourced.
The agreement to transfer includes the sale of GAM Fund
Management Ltd, Dublin (GFML), including its in-house transfer
agency function to Apex Group. The agreement reached also means
that GAM and Apex Group will transfer management company services
for GAM funds in Luxembourg and the UK to corresponding
subsidiaries of Apex Group, GAM said.
GAM’s total assets under management were SFr63.8 billion ($71.2
billion) as of 31 December 2023, with investment management at
SFr19.3 billion and fund management services at SFr44.7 billion.
As of 31 January 2024, fund management services were transferred
to the Carne Group.
In August 2023, after moves by UK-listed Liontrust Asset
Management to buy GAM fell through, GAM agreed with investment
groups NewGAMe and Rock Investment SAS to extend immediate
short-term financing of SFr20 million to cover GAM’s liquidity
needs. Rock is a French-incorporated entity that is owned by NJJ
Holding, the personal holding company of Xavier Niel, a wealthy
French businessman. It is part of the NewGAMe group of investors
consisting of NewGAMe SA and Bruellan SA.
For the full year of 2023, GAM announced an IFRS net loss after tax of SFr82.1 million, down from SFr290.0 million in 2022. The group posted an underlying loss before tax of SFr49.5 million, from SFr42.5 million in 2022. Investment management assets under management fell to SFr19.3 billion, from SFr23.2 billion as of 31 December 2022.
