CEOs at a pair of giant, foreign financial services companies are talking about investing in asset management in the U.S. One of them is touting a purse size for his dealmaking: $3 billion.

Nobuyuki Hirano Mitsubish UFJ Group President, CEO

Nobuyuki Hirano, CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Group, tells the Financial Times that he wants to buy into the U.S. asset management space, to the tune of a $2.5-billion to $3-billion deal. He describes asset management as "another big pillar for MUFG," which is the largest bank in Japan.

"It is possible that we will acquire one of the well-managed asset management companies," perhaps "in collaboration" with Morgan Stanley, Hirano tells the paper. Morgan Stanley already has two Japanese joint ventures with MUFG.

Meanwhile, British institutional asset manager Legal and General is on the hunt, too. The FT reports on L&G CEO Nigel Wilson's comments about what he'll do with the cash from some some upcoming divestments, like the rumored $168-million sale of L&G's French arm.

"On use of proceeds, I think there are a few areas that we'd like to spend some money on. LGIM America is going so well, so we'd like to accelerate that growth," Wilson reportedly told analysts. "We continue to look at the ETF space where are again we are doing classic build/buy analysis. If we are to spend the proceeds that's an area I like."

U.S. fundsters might recognize L&G's U.S. arm as the institutional asset manager taken over in March by former LPL president Robert Moore. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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