Jupiter rising
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While weve grown used to the helter skelter of Mondays and Tuesdays before going to press, this week weve had a relatively muted couple of days in preparation for Gordon Browns 11th Budget.
Tuesday was going along nicely for myself as I was uncharacteristically ahead of schedule and then news broke that Commerzbank had agreed a deal with Jupiters management over the sale of its UK asset management subsidiary by the Jupiter's senior management, alongside private equity firm TA Associates.
All of a sudden a quiet day turned into a very busy one but needless to say I was given an inkling this deal was imminent so was ready to sweep into action.
Potential suitors to Jupiter had been heavily documented in numerous trade and national papers, with a number of private equity and trade buyers believed to be interested, before TA became the established favourites.
So now the deal has gone through, what exactly does it mean for one of the most successful fund houses in the industry?
To relax most advisers minds from the outset it appears to be much of the same. Jupiter has grown exponentially to some 19.2bn in assets under management in the past few years and has a massive talent pool of fund managers that outstrips a number of the groups peers.
According to Jupiters joint chief executive Edward Bonham Carter the group had been looking for this deal for the past year, with the German owners asking the senior management at Jupiter a couple of months back to meet a set price.
Jupiter has also revealed a new board structure with Edward Bonham Carter taking on the role of new group chief executive of Jupiter Investment Management Holdings Ltd, which is the ultimate holding for the firms asset management and unit trust arms upon completion of the MBO.
Jonathan Carey, who has been joint chief exec with Bonham Carter since May 2000, has been appointed as deputy chairman. Jupiter will also have four additional representatives on the board with Adrian Creedy as chief operating officer and three fund managers in the shape of Anthony Nutt, Philip Gibbs and John Chatfield Roberts.
TA Associates will also have a trio of members on the board, including managing director Michael Wilson.
Apart from this it is more of the same as Jupiter continues to grow from strength to strength. TA Associates are hugely experienced in the UKs asset management arena and renowned long-term investors, a trait not typically synonymous with private equity firms.
Jupiters management is also known to have the majority holding, and with all the managers given even greater incentive to stay at the firm, the garden does look rosy.
Bonham Carter says he will continue to run his own fund unless, as he put it with a hint of sarcasm, he gets sacked while support from the firms new associates is both internal and external.
Jupiter now looks set to expand into areas that it hasnt already conquered once the management buyout takes place by July 2007, subject to FSA approval.
The only question on adviser lips is who will be the chairman of the groups new holding company and where next in terms of expansion for fund managements blue riband firm.
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