In Malaysia, Maybank AM will buy Amanah Mutual Berhad, a fund management company with 16 funds on the market, six of which are sharia-compliant.
Amanah Mutual had MYR2.11bn ($517m) in AUM at the end of 2016, as per the company’s website. It commanded 0.9% market share of Malaysia’s mutual fund industry by AUM in October 2017, according to data from Morningstar.
Maybank AM manages MYR12.3bn in mutual funds, which constitutes around 5.7% market share. The new acquisition will increase the firm’s AUM by around 17%, lifting its market share to around 6.6%.
In Singapore, Maybank AM will acquire Singapore Unit Trusts (SUT), a privately-held firm with two products on the market, focused on institutional clients.
Maybank AM is a small player in Singapore’s asset management industry. It currently manages around S$15.3m ($11.4m) of assets in two mutual funds in Singapore, a tiny fraction of S$34bn in all funds domiciled there, according to the firm’s interim report for June 2017.
The net assets of SUT were S$12m at the end of 2016, according to the announcement. The firm does not report the AUM of its funds.
Maybank AM sees this acquisition as a means to expand its presence in retail and institutional markets in Singapore, as per the company’s financial disclosures.
The transaction is structured as a cash acquisition of the two mutual fund firms, MYR16.12m for Amanah Mutual and MYR34.88m for SUT. The total amount of MYR51m will be offset by a MYR50m purchase of Maybank AM’s shares by PNB.
