Deals
Prescient Acquires AIB Investment Managers
Prescient Holdings (Pty) Limited has agreed to acquire AIB Investment Managers Limited (AIBIM), the asset management subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks, plc.
AIBIM will be renamed Prescient Investment Managers (Ireland) Limited and will remain as the Dublin based investment manager in the Prescient Group. It’s envisaged that it will continue to be managed by the existing management team, delivering its successful and proven investment strategies.
AIBIM currently manages assets of €8.5 billion (as of September 2011) for a wide variety of clients, including pension, corporate, charity and private clients both in Ireland and overseas.
AIBIM was first established in 1966. With offices in Dublin and New York, it employs approximately 100 people. AIBIM is a manager that has extensive experience managing global equities, bonds and property with a respectable and strong performance record in all three areas.
Prescient, headquartered in Cape Town, was established in 1998 and is in the process of listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). It operates a range of financial services activities including South Africa’s leading quantitative investment management house with R95 billion (€9 billion) assets under management, investment administration as well as wealth management and securities businesses.
The Group has managed Irish regulated funds in Dublin since 2007. Prescient is an approved promoter and investment manager in Ireland. More recently the company has established Stadia Fund Management Limited a UCITS Management Company authorised to administer UCITS and Non UCITS schemes.
Frank O’Riordan, Managing Director of AIBIM commented, “We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients and staff who have remained loyal, understanding and focused throughout the sales process. AIBIM shares Prescient’s ambition to grow and drive the business”.
Herman Steyn, Prescient Executive Chairman, stated “We are building a global business and view Dublin as a springboard into Europe and the US. We have been looking to expand our investment management capability and view this acquisition as a significant part of our development”
Pending regulatory approval the transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of this year.
William Fry acted as legal advisers to AIB Investment Managers. Standard Bank represented Prescient as the Investment Bank and Dillon Eustace provided legal advice to the management team. Dillon Eustace is one of Ireland’s leading law firms focusing on financial services, banking and capital markets, corporate and M&A, litigation and dispute resolution, real estate and taxation.
The team was led by Senior Partner David Dillon. David has years of experience and focuses his core practice on financial services, asset management and investment funds.
Legal Adviser to the management team:
Senior Partner David Dillon commented:
“Dillon Eustace was very pleased to act for the Prescient Group in the acquisition of AIB Investment Management. The acquisition was good news on a number of fronts. It secured the future of a significant Irish Asset Manager and the further expansion of a forward looking and progressive South African Financial Group in Ireland.
From the point of view of Dillon Eustace it underlines our position and presence in the financial services space where we like to emphasise our M&A practise, especially in that highly technical area. The Prescient acquisition is one of a number of acquisitions and investments of and in financial services companies in which we have been involved in, extending to asset managers, hedge funds, administrators, insurance companies, credit institutions and regulated intermediaries.”
Mr. Dillon can be contacted on + 353 (0)1 673 1714 or by email at david.dillon@dilloneustace.ie.
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