LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) – Schroders shareholders on Thursday approved a 9.9 billion pound ($13.4 billion) sale of the British asset manager to U.S. rival Nuveen, confirming the end of independence for one of London’s historic fund houses.
Investors in the 222-year-old firm backed the deal with 99.9% of votes cast at a general meeting in London, exceeding the 75% approval threshold.
Nuveen and Schroders announced the deal in February to create a combined group with $2.5 trillion of assets under management.
The deal fuelled fresh speculation over which fund manager could be bought next in a fast-consolidating industry, as companies combine to compete with larger U.S. rivals such as BlackRock and Vanguard, which dominate the low-cost index-tracking market.
The takeover was widely expected to pass after securing the backing of Schroders’ founding family, which owns 42% of the stock. Smaller shareholder JO Hambro had nevertheless argued the deal undervalued the company by as much as 10 to 15%.
The sale will create one of the world’s largest active fund managers, although the group will still trail the seven biggest U.S. players, led by BlackRock, as well as France’s Amundi.
The deal has again highlighted the rising number of companies leaving the London market. Schroders will delist from the FTSE 100, though the Schroders brand will be retained for now.
In a quarterly trading update earlier on Thursday, Schroders said it saw increased client withdrawals in March amid market volatility linked to the Iran war, following a period of improved performance last year.
($1 = 0.7383 pounds)
(Reporting by Iain Withers. Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
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