AMSTERDAM: Dutch fiduciary manager MN has sold its UK business, only six months after senior management vowed it would remain in the market.
The business has been sold to Kempen Capital Management (KCM) for an undisclosed price, seven years after the company launched in the UK.
Paul Gerla, chief executive at KCM, said the acquisition was an “important landmark” for his company’s expansion.
KCM has proven to be an entrepreneurial and innovative player in the highly competitive Dutch fiduciary management market,” he said.
“We are committed to doing the same in the UK, where demand for fiduciary management is increasing.
“MN has successfully built a fiduciary business in the UK, and we look forward to developing that further.”
Pending regulatory approval, the companies hope to complete the deal by the beginning of October.
The sale comes only a few months after MN in the Netherlands announced more than 200 redundancies.
At the time, outgoing chief executive Ruud Hagendijk was cautious about MN’s future in the UK, and conceded that it was pursuing a different business model than when it launched in 2008.
But he added: “The change in strategy does not mean we will leave England.”
KCM currently has fiduciary management mandates worth €23bn, largely in the Netherlands, compared with £2.7bn (€3.5bn) in full-service fiduciary mandates overseen by MN’s UK business.
According to IPE’s survey of Dutch institutional managers, KCM had €18.1bn in Dutch institutional assets at the end of September 2014.
