French investment bank Natixis has reportedly agreed to sell back its majority stake in troubled H20 Asset Management to the firm’s management.
Last November, it was reported that Natixis was planning to end its partnership with H20 as part of its measures to bolster risk controls.
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At the time, the bank revealed that it was in talks about a ‘progressive and orderly unwinding’ of its partnership with the London fund manager with plans to offload its stake.
The money manager was under fire after it was revealed that it had invested more than €1bn ($1.2bn) of investor money into illiquid bonds related to controversial German financier Lars Windhorst.
Natixis Investment Managers CEO Jean Raby said in a Bloomberg TV interview: “We agreed with management that we would part amicably in total agreement with management buying our stake in the company.
“It’s subject to regulatory approval, and we’re doing this in an orderly manner in a transition that has at the heart of it the interest of our clients.”
The move is anticipated to be a setback for H2O, which had been utilising Natixis’s distribution network for its €20bn ($24.6bn) of funds.
Headed by Bruno Crastes, H2O has been a key player amongst Natixis’ money managers and is said to have delivered several years of outsized returns to the bank.
Unlike other peers in fund management including Amundi and BNP Paribas, Natixis acquires stakes in boutique money managers instead of consolidating its funds under one company.
“H2O will leave us, but some of them will also join us,” Raby reportedly said in the interview, hinting at the possibility of partnerships with other firms in the future.
In 2019, France’s Natixis Investment Managers purchased an 11% stake in Canada’s Fiera Capital for C$128.2m ($100.5m).
