MutualFundWire.com: Different Takes on the Janus-Henderson Merger
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Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Different Takes on the Janus-Henderson Merger


Two multinational, publicly-traded asset managers — Janus [profile] and Henderson Global Investors [profile] — revealed plans yesterday to join forces in 2017, and Mister Market and everyone else is still digesting the news. Here's some of the coverage and reactions so far.

Richard Weil
 Janus
Chief Executive Officer
  • Mister Market seems to like the deal so far, for both sides, as the TheStreet notes. Yesterday Henderson's shares (HGG on the London exchange) rose 16.68 percent, while Janus' (JNS on the NYSE) rose 12.13 percent.


  • Bill Gross, Janus' famed bond fund PM and billionaire, is "very supportive" of the merger, Henderson chief Andrew Formica tells CNBC.


  • Citi analysts Bill Katz, Jack Keeler, and Ryan Bailey like the deal for offering scale, global diversification, and "expected revenue/cost synergies." Yet they worry about the planned co-CEO structure, among other things. And they wonder if the good news of the deal is now "priced in."


  • James Skinner of Bloomberg argues that "the deal is actually pretty smart -- if the awkward governance arrangements can be made temporary."


  • Chris Dieterich of the Wall Street Journal and Johanna Bennett of Barron's both ponder whether the Janus-Henderson merger means more asset manager M&A is coming. Among other sources, they point to a note from Jefferies analyst Daniel Fannon.


  • Paul Davies of the Wall Street Journal, Carolyn Cohn and Trevor Hunnicutt of Reuters, Reshma Kapadia of Barron's, and Lauren Fedor, Arash Massoudi, and Chris Newlands of the Financial Times all frame the deal in the context of the broader tide shifting against active asset managers like Henderson and Janus.


  • Johanna Bennett of Barron's wonders "why is Henderson getting the better deal?" given that the deal is being pitched as a "merger of equals."


  • Madison Marriage of the Financial Times focuses on Andrew Formica the "feisty ... serial dealmaker" from Australia who leads Henderson as CEO.


  • Madison Marriage and Attracta Mooney of the FT look back on Janus' rough post-dotcom-bubble years.


Others who have covered the deal so far include: Antoine Gara in Forbes; Katie Martin in the FT; Chad Bray, Landon Thomas Jr., and Amie Tsang in the New York Times; Razak Musah in MarketWatch; Ben Dummett and Sarah Krouse in the WSJ; Sophie Baker in Pensions & Investments; Monica Mendoza and Ben Miller in the Denver Business Journal; and Jeff Benjamin in InvestmentNews.


Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=54913

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