Goldman Sachs has bought a Dutch asset manager for which UBS was one of the other bidders as the European sector looks to consolidate.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs is buying Dutch insurer NN’s asset management business, the companies announced Thursday. European bidders lost out to Goldman Sachs, including Switzerland's largest bank, UBS.

Goldman will pay around 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for NN Investment Partners. The around $355 billion in assets the unit manages will now be added to the $2.3 trillion already managed by the U.S. bank’s fund arm.

More Hook-ups?

UBS, whose own asset management unit still has not gained the critical mass necessary to be a forerunner in the industry is not only on the lookout for takeover targets but also might be interested in a possible bid for the business.

Since both Deutsche Bank’s fund unit DWS and UBS both missed out on NN IP, this could fuel speculation about a rapprochement after preliminary talks between the two failed in 2019.

Takeover Candidate

Credit Suisse Asset Management, which was badly shaken by the closure of its supply chain funds after the collapse of Greensill Capital, is also considered a takeover candidate.

There is widespread talk of a merger with UBS asset management or DWS joining the two of them. However, Credit Suisse’s chairman, António Horta Osório, intends to take his time mulling major strategic moves until at least the autumn.

At the end of June, UBS Asset Management had invested assets of $1.2 trillion and CSAM had 471 billion Swiss francs ($519 billion) in client assets under management.

Achieving Scale

Even after the Dutch acquisition, Goldman still has plenty of money and is interested in further acquisitions.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) the bank would «certainly take a serious look» at further acquisitions in asset management, if they could accelerate its growth.

«The asset management industry continues to consolidate,» he added. «If you look at most of the leading players, the thing that most of them have is their businesses are global and at scale.»