Russell Investments has been sold to TA Associates, a private equity firm that specialises in building up fund management companies.
The London Stock Exchange Group has sold the global fund management and consulting operations of Russell Investments to TA Associates for US $1.15 billion, with Reverence Capital Partners taking a minority shareholding.
Russell Investments will become the 20th fund management firm TA Associates has owned since 1993.
Staff in the Australian Russell Investments team have privately expressed elation at the move, owing to the track record of TA Associates in building up fund management groups and for its long term ownership of brands such as Thomson Advisory Group, which it purchased in 1990, which subsequently merged with Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company to form Pimco, which was sold to Allianz in 2000. TA Associates has also been the owner of K2 Advisors (purchased in 2005, sold in 2012) and Affiliated Managers Group (purchased 1993).
The same staff saw it as unlikely that Russell’s consulting arm would be spun off, given the historic and organic link between the consulting and fund management teams at the firm.
The Australian team are currently passing all media requests to Russell’s head office in Seattle.
Russell Investments has US$266 billion of assets under management and is focused on delivering outcome-oriented investments through a multi-asset solutions approach to its clients worldwide.
In Australia it offers a mix of locally managed multi-asset funds and solutions as well as actuarial advice.
In the prepared statement announcing the deal, Todd Crockett, a managing director at TA Associates, said: “We believe that the breadth of Russell Investments’ investment and implementation operations, as well as its orientation to multi-asset and solutions investing will continue to be a differentiator and driver of growth in the marketplace going forward.”