UK-based asset and investment manager APAM has announced a deal that will make it part of the Catella group of companies.
Catella Property Fund Management (CPFM) is buying 75% of the share capital of APAM for £18m on a debt-and-cash-free basis.
Catella specialises in European fund management and banking and has operations in 14 countries. It is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in the mid cap segment. Catella and APAM will have combined assets under management of £18bn.
Catella AB chief executive Knut Pedersen said: “As a leading company within the strategically important UK market, APAM constitutes a key piece in Catella’s ambition to build a pan-European platform within our property investment management business area, which has been our focus for the past four years.”
APAM’s founding shareholders Simon Cooke and William Powell will keep the remainder of APAM’s equity and will stay at the company, which will run independent of Catella for another five years.
David Russell will step down as a non-executive director and sell his stake in APAM to focus on his business interests in Manchester and the North West.
The deal is still is subject to regulatory approval.
Cooke said: “This transaction brings together two great names in property investment management and Catella AB’s strategic investment provides us with an even stronger platform for growth. Will and I will continue to lead and drive the APAM business – it will be very much ‘business as usual’.
“We have enjoyed building APAM over the past eight years and look forward to working with Catella AB to leverage the new opportunities that this partnership brings.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as financial advisors to APAM. EY advised Catella AB.
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