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Robeco's diversification play
The Dutch firm has expanded in the U.S. to overcome a local dilemma.
The Dutch firm has expanded in the U.S. to overcome a local dilemma.
By Andrew Capon
November 2002
亚博赞助欧冠机构投资者杂志
Back in 1996, executives at Robeco Group, the Rotterdam, Netherlandsbased money manager, had a problem. Upwards of 80 percent of its $50 billion in assets came from Dutch investors who could count on Robeco's homegrown expertise in handling guilder-based assets. But once the Netherlands adopted the euro in 1999, rivals in Frankfurt or Paris would be just as capable of overseeing euro-based assets for Dutch clients. So Robeco decided to go abroad.
Targeting the U.S. market as a promising territory, Robeco in 1998 paid $575 million to acquire New York's Weiss, Peck & Greer, a high-net-worth and institutional fixed-income manager that then had close to $16 billion under management.
But it was not until U.S. CEO Nassos Michas arrived in March 2001 that Robeco picked up the pace of its U.S. buying, snapping up two more institutional investors and a mutual fund group. Today the Dutch manager boasts a small, solid presence in the U.S. market, which kicks in about 30 percent of its total assets of $100 billion. In September Robeco consolidated the pieces of its U.S. business by placing its three U.S. institutional asset managers under the organizational umbrella of Robeco USA, headed by Michas.
"We now have all the right building blocks in place in the U.S.," says Michas, 58. "I wouldn't anticipate any further acquisitions from here. Our ambition is to manage between $50 billion and $100 billion in the U.S. in three to five years' time." Future growth is expected to come from both asset appreciation and new client mandates.
Weiss Peck gave Robeco a good base of operations in the U.S. Despite the usual postacquisition personnel strife, including the departure of a team of venture capitalists, the firm now manages $4 billion more than it did when the Robeco deal closed. The firm's new product offerings in alternative assets, including a convertible arbitrage fund, have helped it reel in accounts.
Robeco's most recent deals make it a player -- albeit a small one -- in the U.S. On July 15 the Dutch firm announced the acquisition of Sage Capital Management, a White Plains, New York, fund-of-hedge-funds manager with $300 million in assets. Four days later it acquired a 60 percent stake in Boston Partners Asset Management, a $9 billion value equity firm. Terms of the deals were not disclosed, although sources suggest that Robeco paid a premium price of close to $350 million for Boston Partners.
Robeco also has a very modest presence in the U.S. retail market through Toledo, Ohiobased Harbor Capital Advisors, which it bought in 2001 for $490 million. Harbor Capital, which uses subadvisers to run its $12 billion-in-assets Harbor Fund family, will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary; it won't be part of Robeco USA.
The Greek-born Michas, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate, is a 27-year Merrill Lynch & Co. veteran who headed the firm's stock loan and prime brokerage business and worked in its private client unit in New York. He has imposed a federalist-style structure on the U.S. group. Control over all investment decisions rests with each subsidiary, while the parent coordinates many of the marketing and administrative functions.
"There is a level of integration at the marketing level. We are also trying to extract as many efficiencies as we can in the back-office and administrative areas. But what is absolutely critical is that the investment processes of each firm remain independent. That is how you maintain the value of the franchise," says Michas.
Robeco USA now fields a 20-person marketing team, all of them generalists selling the full array of Robeco products. The team leader is Mike Jones, a former marketing chief at Boston Partners.
大多数金融服务公司,自己的钱anagers opt to either integrate the firms into one centralized organization (Credit Suisse Group, Merrill Lynch, UBS) or maintain an entirely decentralized operation (Mellon Financial Corp.). Robeco's model of centralized marketing and decentralized investment management is an unusual hybrid. Says Charles Burkhart Jr., chairman of Rosemont Investment Partners, a private equity firm specializing in the money management industry, "It looks good on paper, but we will need to see a year or two of execution."
Robeco's U.S. acquisition spree may be over, but it may yet expand its European presence. Earlier this year Robeco, whose parent is Rabobank Group, a Utrecht, Netherlandsbased institution with a triple-A credit rating and a balance sheet total of E363 billion, bought a 28 percent stake in $5 billion-in-assets Basel, Switzerlandbased private bank Bank Sarasin & Co. Industry sources suggest that a U.K. acquisition may be in the offing, and sooner rather than later.
By Andrew Capon
November 2002
亚博赞助欧冠机构投资者杂志
Back in 1996, executives at Robeco Group, the Rotterdam, Netherlandsbased money manager, had a problem. Upwards of 80 percent of its $50 billion in assets came from Dutch investors who could count on Robeco's homegrown expertise in handling guilder-based assets. But once the Netherlands adopted the euro in 1999, rivals in Frankfurt or Paris would be just as capable of overseeing euro-based assets for Dutch clients. So Robeco decided to go abroad.
Targeting the U.S. market as a promising territory, Robeco in 1998 paid $575 million to acquire New York's Weiss, Peck & Greer, a high-net-worth and institutional fixed-income manager that then had close to $16 billion under management.
But it was not until U.S. CEO Nassos Michas arrived in March 2001 that Robeco picked up the pace of its U.S. buying, snapping up two more institutional investors and a mutual fund group. Today the Dutch manager boasts a small, solid presence in the U.S. market, which kicks in about 30 percent of its total assets of $100 billion. In September Robeco consolidated the pieces of its U.S. business by placing its three U.S. institutional asset managers under the organizational umbrella of Robeco USA, headed by Michas.
"We now have all the right building blocks in place in the U.S.," says Michas, 58. "I wouldn't anticipate any further acquisitions from here. Our ambition is to manage between $50 billion and $100 billion in the U.S. in three to five years' time." Future growth is expected to come from both asset appreciation and new client mandates.
Weiss Peck gave Robeco a good base of operations in the U.S. Despite the usual postacquisition personnel strife, including the departure of a team of venture capitalists, the firm now manages $4 billion more than it did when the Robeco deal closed. The firm's new product offerings in alternative assets, including a convertible arbitrage fund, have helped it reel in accounts.
Robeco's most recent deals make it a player -- albeit a small one -- in the U.S. On July 15 the Dutch firm announced the acquisition of Sage Capital Management, a White Plains, New York, fund-of-hedge-funds manager with $300 million in assets. Four days later it acquired a 60 percent stake in Boston Partners Asset Management, a $9 billion value equity firm. Terms of the deals were not disclosed, although sources suggest that Robeco paid a premium price of close to $350 million for Boston Partners.
Robeco also has a very modest presence in the U.S. retail market through Toledo, Ohiobased Harbor Capital Advisors, which it bought in 2001 for $490 million. Harbor Capital, which uses subadvisers to run its $12 billion-in-assets Harbor Fund family, will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary; it won't be part of Robeco USA.
The Greek-born Michas, a University of California, Berkeley, graduate, is a 27-year Merrill Lynch & Co. veteran who headed the firm's stock loan and prime brokerage business and worked in its private client unit in New York. He has imposed a federalist-style structure on the U.S. group. Control over all investment decisions rests with each subsidiary, while the parent coordinates many of the marketing and administrative functions.
"There is a level of integration at the marketing level. We are also trying to extract as many efficiencies as we can in the back-office and administrative areas. But what is absolutely critical is that the investment processes of each firm remain independent. That is how you maintain the value of the franchise," says Michas.
Robeco USA now fields a 20-person marketing team, all of them generalists selling the full array of Robeco products. The team leader is Mike Jones, a former marketing chief at Boston Partners.
大多数金融服务公司,自己的钱anagers opt to either integrate the firms into one centralized organization (Credit Suisse Group, Merrill Lynch, UBS) or maintain an entirely decentralized operation (Mellon Financial Corp.). Robeco's model of centralized marketing and decentralized investment management is an unusual hybrid. Says Charles Burkhart Jr., chairman of Rosemont Investment Partners, a private equity firm specializing in the money management industry, "It looks good on paper, but we will need to see a year or two of execution."
Robeco's U.S. acquisition spree may be over, but it may yet expand its European presence. Earlier this year Robeco, whose parent is Rabobank Group, a Utrecht, Netherlandsbased institution with a triple-A credit rating and a balance sheet total of E363 billion, bought a 28 percent stake in $5 billion-in-assets Basel, Switzerlandbased private bank Bank Sarasin & Co. Industry sources suggest that a U.K. acquisition may be in the offing, and sooner rather than later.