Asset managers had their busiest first quarter ever doing deals despite a slump in  capital markets.
 
Preliminary data shows 53 asset management deals were announced globally in the first quarter, up from 45 in the year-ago period, according to Jefferies Putnam Lovell, a unit of Jefferies Group Inc.
 
Acquired assets under management totaled $704.6 billion with a disclosed deal value of about $9.6 billion in the first quarter, compared with $544.9 billion in acquired assets under management and $10.4 billion in deal value in the year-ago period, it said. 

The first quarter deals included the largest cross-border deal by assets under management in fund management history, it said. Ping An Insurance Co of China Ltd’s agreed to acquire a 50 percent equity stake in Fortis Investments, the global asset management arm of Fortis, for 2.15 billion euros.

Asset management has held up better than some of the other financial services in part because it does not have a lot of capital, said Ben Phillips, managing director and head of strategic analysis at Jefferies Putnam Lovell. 
 
Another reason is that “many of the skills that asset managers have are still in demand among core clients,” Phillips said. “Even though markets are down and all asset managers feel it, the long term trends remain in place.” 
 
But Phillips warned that whether the trend would hold up remained to be seen.
 
“If the markets deteriorate further – equity markets in particular – it could dry up asset management deal flow,” Phillips said. “So we will have to watch the second quarter very closely.”

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