By Giovanni Legorano
MILAN--UniCredit SpA and Banco Santander SA have reached a
preliminary deal to merge their asset management units, which will
combine all the activities of the two money managers, except
Santander's U.S. operations, the Italian lender said.
The merger will see the creation of a holding company retaining
UniCredit's Pioneer Investments brand, which will be 50%-owned by
UniCredit and 50%-owned by private equity firms Warburg Pincus LLC
and General Atlantic LLC. The two private equity firms together
currently own 50% of Santander Asset Management.
The newly created holding company will own stakes in two
separate units--one comprising Pioneer's U.S. business, which the
holding company will control completely. The other unit will
consist of Pioneer and SAM's non-U.S. businesses, of which the
holding company will own two-thirds. The remaining third will be
owned by Santander.
The deal involves a 1.1 billion euro ($1.18 billion) cash
payment to UniCredit from Santander and the two private equity
funds, a person familiar with the matter said.
The company resulting from the merger will have an enterprise
value of around EUR5.5 billion and will have EUR400 billion in
assets under management.
Write to Giovanni Legorano at giovanni.legaorano@wsj.com
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