A rival investor group has attempted to prevent Liontrust’s takeover of Global Asset Management (GAM) by bidding for 28 million of GAM’s shares.

GAM, headquartered in Zurich, operates in 14 countries. In May, Liontrust announced its £96m takeover of GAM – which would create a firm with £53bn assets under management.

The prospective deal has been met with a counteroffer from NewGAMe and Bruellan – which are launching a rival bid after deeming Liontrust’s terms to takeover GAM inadequate. It “grossly undervalues GAM but is also subject to execution contingencies, which make it highly unattractive”, a spokesman for the group commented.

The counter-offer comes after Liontrust shareholders voted in favour of the takeover. Subsequently, John Ions, chief executive at Liontrust, wrote an open letter to GAM shareholders encouraging them to accept Liontrust’s “good and fair offer for GAM” and to tender their shares by July.

Antoine Spillmann, CEO at Bruellan responded to Liontrust’s open letter: “We have a clear plan to return GAM to profitability and growth over the next two years – this provides shareholders with a viable alternative to the Liontrust offer and we encourage shareholders to read NewGAMe’s investment thesis and our detailed response to Liontrust’s open letter.”

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