Columbia Threadneedle Investments and BMO to join forces

Another large-scale acquisition is shaking the European asset management front when earlier this week, Ameriprise Financial, the parent company Columbia Threadneedle, announced it has acquired the European asset management business of BMO Financial Group in a GBP 615 million (EUR 708.6 million) deal.

The announcement follows another big acquisition news in the European asset management industry. Last week, the French asset management firm Amundi said it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Société Générale to buy its fund management arm Lyxor. The deal would see Amundi become the second largest provider of exchange traded funds in Europe after the New York-headquartered BlackRock. The Ameriprise Financial/BMO deal, which is expected to close during the final quarter of this year, will boost Columbia Threadneedle’s assets under management to around USD 671 billion (EUR 561.3 billion) globally, increasing the EMEA share of the firm’s assets under management