Jupiter in buyout talks
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Jupiter is understood to be in talks with a number of private equity companies about buying out the firm from parent Commerzbank.
Chief executive Edward Bonham Carter and his management team are thought to be in contact with several potential buyers, including Candover, Blackstone, US group TA Associates and Hellman & Friedman, which also bought a 50 per cent stake in Gartmore last October. Commerzbank bought Jupiter in 2000 for £700m and failed to sell it in 2002 after no one would meet its asking price.
A similar price would be a good deal for the buyer, costing less than 5 per cent of its assets under management. Pru paid almost 10 per cent of assets under management when acquiring M&G.
Jupiter has £19bn in assets under management, including thriving multi-manager and hedge fund businesses. Fourteen of its funds have been top-quartile performance over the past three years.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of research Mark Dampier says: "The one good thing about a private equity firm buying a fund management group is that they have to get the fund managers on board or they will walk.
"As an option, I believe that a fund manager and a private equity group doing a joint buyout is usually quite transparent, as opposed to the likes of a fund management merger."
Jupiter declined to comment on the matter.
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