LONDON— Henderson Group PLC agreed to acquire U.S. rival Janus Capital Group Inc. for about £2.01 billion ($2.59 billion) as the two active management firms look to cut costs in the face of pressure from low cost fund providers like BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group.
The planned deal comes as active managers—who have posted net outflows in recent years—try to square up to their passive rivals by pursuing new deals or rethinking their product mix.
As part of the deal, Henderson is gaining access to the investment knowledge of famed bond manager Bill Gross, who abruptly left Pacific Investment Management Co. and joined Janus in 2014. He now manages an unconstrained bond fund for the firm.
Source: Wall Street Journal. Read full article here.
