So Robeco is up for sale, which means subsidiary Harbor Funds could be changing hands.

We know the names of the three bidders, but who exactly are these companies?

Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) is well known to fundsters. The fund shop has $385 billion in AUM as of June 30, according to a company spokesperson. This purchase would be a major boost for AMG head Sean Healey, since Harbor Funds' $65 billion of AUM would represent around one-sixth of AMG's current assets.

AMG is partnering with Permira, a European PE firm, in its bid for Robeco.

The second bid is a PE consortium of Advent International and CVC. That name also probably sound familiar to fund insiders. CVC was the lead bidder to buy iShares from Barclays in 2009, before BlackRock swooped in to buy all of BGI.

CVC has $50 billion in its funds.

Advent International is a global private equity firm with U.S. offices in Boston and New York.

The final bid is from Orix, a Japanese firm whose U.S. arm holds $25 billion AUM. The U.S. business is based in Dallas, Texas.  

Edited by: Ben Geier


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