US Asset Manager Completes Acquisition

Tom Burroughes

6 January 2009

London-listed Titanium Asset Management, a US company, has completed its purchase of US money manager Boyd Watterson Asset Management for $7.5 million.

The deal, which was announced on 10 November last year, will be funded via a $7.5 million cash payment plus the issue of 58,000 share of Titanium common stock to BWAM employees. BWAM has been owned by its management following a management buyout in 2007. The firm has 22 employees.

A further 192,000 shares will be issued at the same time Titanium makes a deferred payment of up to $8.0 million, expected to be paid in early 2011, depending on BWAM’s annualised revenue run-rate as at 31 December 2010, Titanium said in a statement.

Application has been made for the 58,000 new shares of Titanium common stock to be admitted to trading on London’s Alternative Investment Market and AIM admission is expected to take place on 9 January 2009.

When Titanium was listed on AIM in June 2007, it raised $120 million and oversaw a total of $5.7 billion of assets as at the end of September 2008. The firm is based in the US. Its acquisitions include Wood Asset Management, Sovereign Holdings and National Investment Services.