UK FTSE 100 asset manager Schroders has agreed a £9.9bn takeover by US investor Nuveen.
The deal with Chicago-based Nuveen will create one of the world’s biggest fund managers, with about £1.8tn of assets under management. The Schroders brand will be retained, and London will serve as the combined group’s non-US headquarters.
“In a competitive landscape where scale can help deliver benefits, in Nuveen, we see a partner that shares our values, respects the culture we have built, and will create exciting opportunities for our clients and people,” said Richard Oldfield, who succeeded Peter Harrison as Schroders chief executive in November 2024.
“The transaction will significantly accelerate our growth plans to create a leading public-to-private platform with enhanced geographic reach and a strengthened balance sheet.”
The deal ends over 220 years of Schroders’ independence. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1959 and sold its investment banking arm in 2000 to focus on asset management.
Nuveen chief executive William Huffman said: “By bringing our complementary platforms, capabilities, distribution networks and cultures together, we will create an extraordinary opportunity to enhance the way we serve our collective clients through access to new markets, bolstered product offerings and deeper pools of investment talent.
“This transaction is about unlocking new growth opportunities for wealth and institutional investors around the world by giving our leading, differentiated public-to-private platform a broader global presence”.
The deal, which will need approval from shareholders, is expected to be completed in Q4 2026.
The news was accompanied by Schroders’ annual results, which showed profit before tax rose 21% to £673.8m, with assets under management up 6% to £823.7bn.
