Fundsters could be forgiven for thinking, or at least hoping, that the M&A flood gates are about to open. Yet some notable industry watchers are worried that it isn't so.

Marty Flanagan Invesco Chief Executive Officer

"Don't hold your breath for an asset-management merger frenzy," writes Chris Dieterich of the Wall Street Journal.

Last week Invesco CEO Marty Flanagan (himself an acquirer earlier this year, though of a roboadvisor and not an asset manager) told analysts that, when it comes to small- and mid-sized asset managers, "not everybody is going to be a willing buyer of some of those firms." And analysts Brian Bedell (of Deutsche Bank) and Bill Katz (Citigroup) echo Flanagan.

"M&A may remain constrained by wide bid-ask spreads between any acquirers and potentially weaker asset manager targets," Bedell reportedly says.

"Did Marty Flanagan just pop the M&A hope trade," Katz wonders.

Yet are Bedell, Flanagan, Katz, and the WSJ right to be so down on asset management M&A? They're all reacting to the planned merger between Janus and Henderson, two big global asset managers that definitely don't fall into the small and mid-sized range that Flanagan's comments directed at. On the flip side, the article makes no mention of the impending sale of Calvert, a much more modest-sized fund firm, to Eaton Vance. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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