(Adds River & Mercantile statement, background, shares)
LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - London-listed asset manager
Premier Miton Group said on Thursday it has withdrawn a
possible offer for investment and consulting company River and
Mercantile Group (RMG) while RMG said separate takeover
talks with AssetCo were continuing.
Premier Miton (PMI), which had said in November it https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/uks-river-mercantile-gets-takeover-approaches-rivals-shares-jump-2021-11-23
approached RMG's board to explore taking over the company will
pursue plans for organic growth, while also exploring "tactical
and strategic opportunities", according to CEO Mike O'Shea.
"We have concluded that there are insufficient commercial
merits for our shareholders to make a formal proposal for the
acquisition of RMG," O'Shea said in a statement on Thursday.
River and Mercantile also received a takeover offer last
November from acquisition vehicle AssetCo, and said on
Thursday those discussions were ongoing.
AssetCo already holds five million shares in R&M,
representing about 5.85% of its voting rights, it said in
November.
AssetCo chairman Martin Gilbert is a former co-CEO of FTSE
100 asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen, now called abrdn
. Gilbert is also deputy chairman of River and
Mercantile.
RMG said it was focusing on completing the 230 million pound
($316 million) sale of its Solutions pensions business to
Schroders, and would update shareholders on its
post-sale strategic plan in the spring.
Asset managers which actively manage funds have been bulking
up in recent years to cut costs and fight off competition from
rivals running cheaper passive, or index-tracking, funds.
RMG shares traded at 290.4 pence at 0840 GMT, their lowest
since Premier and AssetCo announced their approaches. PMI shares
fell 1.54%, while AssetCo was unchanged.
($1 = 0.7276 pounds)
(Reporting by Huw Jones and Carolyn Cohn
Editing by Rachel Armstrong, Elaine Hardcastle)
Assetco (ASTO)