Source, Europe’s fifth largest exchange-traded product (ETPs) provider, says it saw assets under management increase by 20% since the beginning of the year to $18 billion (€13 billion).
The rise in assets is part of an accelerated growth plan implemented in January when US private equity firm Warburg Pincus committed to taking a majority stake in the firm.
Source says it now has 35 ETPs with more than $100 million in assets and five with more than $1 billion in assets. The firm, which has minority stakeholders including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, confirmed the completion of the acquisition today.
The growth plan has also seen the firm increase its head count by 20%.
The Warburg Pincus deal means Lee Kranefuss, the architect of iShares, the world’s largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider, becomes executive chairman.
Kranefuss created Barclays Global Investors’ ETF division, which was subsequently sold to BlackRock and is now iShares, the largest ETF provider globally. Kranefuss is executive-in-residence at US-based Warburg Pincus.
Source says its 20% growth in assets was twice the size of ETF asset growth in Europe this year.
Kranefuss says: “Growth has been strong but from a low base and, similar to the US market, should accelerate as investors become more familiar with the investments.”
©2014 funds europe
