Germany’s second largest bank HypoVereinsbank (HVB) has instructed Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette to help it cut its 90% share in asset manager Foreign & Colonial. The move follows the bank’s decision to restructure its asset management business. HVB is to offer outside funds and both F&C and Activest have lost their exclusive sales agreements with the bank.
“Foreign & Colonial, as it is now, is no longer essential for our asset management strategy,” says a HVB spokesman. Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust holds the remaining 10% and has agreed to the reduction but the amount for sale is unknown. F&C manages £8bn of HypoVereinsbank’s retail funds, approximately 31% of F&C’s £26bn in assets under management.
Robert Jenkins, chief executive of Foreign & Colonial Management, describes the decision as very positive. F&C is able to distribute its own products through HVB’s retail network.