Prudential division acquires most of Thanachart Fund Management

Prudential announced on Friday that its Asian investment management business Eastspring Investments has successfully completed its acquisition of 50.1% of Thanachart Fund Management from Thanachart Bank Public Company and Government Savings Bank, with Thanachart Bank holding the remaining 49.9% stake.

The FTSE 100 company noted that on 9 August and 30 September, Eastspring announced that it would acquire the 50.1% stake in Thanachart Fund Management for around THB 4.21bn (£110m), with an option to increase its ownership to 100% in the future.

It described Thanachart Fund Management as the eighth largest mutual fund manager in Thailand, with THB 206bn of mutual funds under management.

The acquisition complemented Eastspring's purchase of 65% of TMB Asset Management, now TMBAM Eastspring, in September 2018.

With the latest transaction, Prudential said Eastspring had become Thailand's fourth largest asset manager, with a market share of 12% and combined assets under management of THB 653bn through the two fund management firms.

“Eastspring now has access to a large and growing consumer base in Thailand through Thanachart Bank, which recently completed its merger with TMB Bank Public Company,” Prudential said in its statement.

“The newly formed bank is the sixth-largest in Thailand, with 10 million retail customers, more than THB 2trn in total assets and over 900 branches across the country.”

Prudential noted that it has operated in Thailand for more than 20 years through Prudential Life Assurance Thailand.

It said it serves more than 1.6 million customers in Thailand and manages more than THB 107bn of assets on their behalf5.

The company described Eastspring as “Asia's leading retail asset manager”, with $216bn (£169bn) of assets under management, having operated in Asia for 25 years.

At 1546 GMT, shares in Prudential were down 0.07% at 1,440.50p.