In its bid to boost fee-based revenue, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will buy British asset manager TT International for nearly 20 billion yen.
The $188 million price tag will fetch SMFG a London-based emerging market equity specialist with $8.4 billion of assets under management (AUM) and boost fee-based revenue.
The SMFG statement, according to the «Nikkei» (behind paywall), did not disclose any details about the deal but acknowledged that it had decided for the first time to by a foreign asset manager and that the TT arm would operate separately from Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.
The transaction is expected to close by year-end, the statement added.
Japan Especially Fee-Hungry
Not unlike its global counterparts, Japan is also seeking to boost capabilities to generate fee-based revenue so that more predictable cash flow can be found from recurring income. But its appetite for such business is further intensified by the Bank of Japan’s ongoing ultra-low interest rate monetary policy.
Another recent example involved Japanese rival Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, which bought Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s global asset management arm and its 213 billion Australian dollar AUM ($151 billion based on October 30, AUDUSD spot rate) for $2.9 billion in October 2018.
