Asset manager M&A is picking up, at least in the eyes of the chief of one acquisitive, publicly-traded, multi-boutique.

"We definitely feel that we are entering a period of elevated activity," Sean Healey, chairman and CEO of Affiliated Managers Group (AMG [profile]), said this morning on AMG's Q1 2018 earnings call with analysts (as transcribed by Seeking Alpha), in response to a "deal pipeline" question from Chris Shutler, equity research analyst at William Blair.

"We have a very strong and growing pipeline of prospective affiliates," Healey said earlier on the call.

Healey elaborated, in response to Shutler's question:

"The short answer is yes, we are seeing a definite increase in new investment activity. I would say it's broadly by firm type and geography and while some opportunities in auction settings, most have come from the relationships we have built over time and in these situations we know the firms well and the transactions occur in a negotiated form really custom tailored to the firm circumstances," Healey said. "So we feel very good about the pipeline."

Today AMG reported economic EPS of $3.92 and revenue of $612.4 million, beating estimates by $0.03 per share and $23.4 million, respectively. AMG's AUM rose 10.27 percent year-over-year to $830.9 billion on March 31, 2018. 

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