I am finishing a week of CEO discussions in Europe and, before flying back to NY, Orix just announced the acquisition of 90.01% of Robeco equity from Rabobank for about two billion Euros (240 billion yen) to expand the global brand and distribution network.
It’s another example of what Enskat & Associates calls the “era of multi-convergence”, aka E=MC2.
Local management will stay in place and report to Tokyo, in an effort to grow AUM by about 25% in the next two years, to roughly $300 billion by 2014. After acquiring US-based Mariner in 2010, Orix is focusing on building global brand via Europe, add to the distribution network and bulk up investment expertise.
Orix is also building a strategic alliance with Rabobank.
It thus ticks all four boxes of my multi-convergence framework: products, distribution, regulation and geographies.
CEO Yoshihiro Miyauchi will surely now look more into Asia, Latin America and the Middle East: “The financial market has drastically changed since the financial crisis and ORIX believes that it is necessary to pursue a new business model by combining finance with related services in a strategy called “Finance + Services.”
Expect more… KKR/Schwab, GCS/Dexia, BTG Pactual/Celfin, Franklin Templeton/K2, Legg/Permal/Fauchier, Schroders/STW, Credit Suisse/Qatar, Carlyle/Vermilion.
The Era of Multi-Convergence is upon us, maybe the blockbuster win.
I invite you to follow me on twitter @danenskat
(c) Enskat Associates 2012
More details on the global M&A in the asset management industry can be found in EAQ, a quarterly asset management review featuring thought leaders globally.
Warren Enskat Group 