Cordea Savills, the property manager, is buying SEB Asset Management AG, the German asset manager owned by Swedish banking group SEB, in a deal valued at up to €21.5m in cash.
Cordea Savills will rebrand following the acquisition as Savills Investment Mangement. Barbara Knoflach, current CEO of SEB AM will leave the company as part of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval from German regulator BaFin, as well as both German and Polish merger authorities.
SEB AM has some €10bn in property investments under management globally via a number of fund structures. It is headquartered in Frankfurt, with staff also in Singapore.
Some 40% of SEB AM’s AUM is in institutional funds, with the rest in German open ended funds that are in the process of being liquidated in line with BaFin regulations.
Justin O’Connor, CEO of Cordea Savills, said: “The proposed acquisition of SEB Asset Management complements our strong organic growth and provides an opportunity to create a leading investment manager in Europe and Asia. SEB Asset Management will add to our critical mass and enhance our ability to offer investment opportunities to clients globally.”
