UniCredit and Amundi have entered into exclusive negotiations in relation to the possible sale of the Pioneer Investments business to Amundi. In a brief joint press release, they confirmed the negotiations are ongoing without disclosing price or further details.
The french asset management group confirmed its interest in acquiring Pioneer Investments last October saying the acquisition was consistent with the growth strategy, and that if it was to be closed it would have to offer a return on investment greater than 10% over a three-year horizon. However they denied a €4bn valuation for Pioneer Investments.
Other groups that were interested in acquiring Pioneer include British Aberdeen Asset Management which decided a €3.5bn valuation was too expensive, Australian Macquarie and Spanish Banco Santander which decided last July not to merge its Asset Management Business with Pioneer.
Pioneer had over 225 billion euros in Assets Under Management as of end of September.