The asset management arm of New York-headquartered MetLife has agreed to acquire PineBridge Investments from Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s Pacific Century Group.
MetLife Investment Management (MIM) has reached a definitive agreement to acquire PineBridge Investments from Pacific Century Group, according to a statement.
The transaction includes $800 million in cash at closing, $200 million subject to achieving certain 2025 financial metrics and $200 million subject to a multi-year earnout. The deal, which is targeted for closing in 2025, excludes PineBridge’s private equity funds group business and China joint venture.
Assets, Capabilities
As of September 30, PineBridge had approximately $100 billion in assets under management globally. More than half of the client assets being acquired in the transaction are held by investors outside of the US with about one-third of the assets held in Asia.
The acquisition will also bring to MIM a collateralized loan obligation platform, a multi-asset business, a global suite of equity strategies as well as direct lending and European real estate businesses.
New Frontier Strategy
The deal is expected to provide a «tactical advancement» of MetLife’s «New Frontier» strategy announced in December 2024. The five-year plan aims to «accelerate growth across [its] global platform while delivering attractive returns and all-weather performance» including double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth and 15-17 percent adjusted return on equity.
«The acquisition of PineBridge Investments furthers our ambition to accelerate growth in asset management,» said MetLife President and CEO Michel Khalaf. «MetLife Investment Management is on a good path to grow its business organically, supplemented by targeted, complementary inorganic growth.»
PineBridge was founded in 1996 as the investment advisory and asset management business of AIG. In 2010, it was acquired by Pacific Century Group which was founded by Richard Li, the son of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing.
