The Irish Life Centre in Dublin 1
Irish Life owner Great-West Lifeco Inc is merging its European asset management units to set up a money manager headquartered in the City of London.
New business, Keyridge Asset Management, will combine the European divisions of Canada Life Asset Management, Setanta Asset Management and Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), the company has announced.
The enlarged entity will oversee more than £135bn (€153bn) in assets.
The ILIM and Setanta brands will be retained in Ireland and customers here will not have to take any action.
Keyridge ultimately seeks to have a third of its sales in the UK, with the other two thirds equally split between North American and European markets, Keyridge CEO Patrick Burke told the Bloomberg news service.
He will lead a team of 300 with plans to hire more senior investment professionals to join the UK team over the coming months. The business will be headquartered in London’s biggest office building at 22 Bishopsgate. The ILIM and Setanta teams in Dublin will continue to serve customers as before.
The launch of Keyridge is a major strategic move for its Canadian owners.
Through ILIM and Setanta the group has established a strong position in the Irish market, and will seek to build on that in the UK in tandem with Canada Life Asset Management UK.
In the UK key target customers will include lifeco affiliates operating in the areas of wealth, advice and workplace services. The UK financial services sector is highly competitive including seeing a rise in cheaper, passively managed funds that have challenged established players with higher costs.
Great-West Lifeco is backed by Canada’s billionaire Desmarais family, which has been looking to shift into higher-growth areas of financial services. It bought Irish Life in 2013 for €1.3bn from the Irish Government following the bailout of the former Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P), the first substantial cash to be clawed back after the bailouts.
“There’s been a lot of turnover in UK asset management,” Burke told Bloomberg.
“There are people who know their stuff and are looking for growth opportunities. Not every business is in a growth mode, and we’re very much in a growth mode.”