Fundsters who are interested in Pioneer [profile] have less than two weeks to bid on the multinational asset manager. [See MFWire's living timeline of the Pioneer auction for more details and history.]

Jean Pierre Mustier UniCredit Chief Executive Officer

Unnamed sources tell Reuters that the giant Italian bank UniCredit is hunting for a strategic partner for Pioneer. The wire service highlights a report from Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, which says that UniCredit wants non-binding bids in by September 20. The bank reportedly reached out for bids from Amundi, Axa, Blackstone, Generali, and Invesco [profile]. One source tells Reuters that UniCredit contacted about 10 potential bidders.

That September 20 deadline comes less than two months after UniCredit and Santander officially pulled the plug on a complicated global asset management deal. That deal, which had been in the works for a couple of years, would have combined Santander's asset management business with Pioneer's non-U.S. business; it would also have put the U.S. side of Pioneer under a new holding company that would have been half-owned by UniCredit and half-owned by a pair of private equity firms. When the Santander deal collapsed, UniCredit issued a statement saying that Pioneer would "now be included in the scope of the strategic review" being conducted by UniCredit's new CEO, Jean Pierre Mustier.

Pioneer had $245 billion in AUM worldwide, including $65.8 billion in the U.S., as of June 30. The company employs more than 2,000 people worldwide, including 519 in the U.S., as of April 30. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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