Principal Global Investors to acquire majority stake in Finisterre

By Toni Weeks

San Diego, April 18 - Principal Global Investors, LLC announced in a press release that it will acquire a majority stake in London-based emerging markets investor Finisterre Capital.

Founded in 2002, Finisterre Capital manages about $1.63 billion of assets, primarily across three funds: Global Opportunity Fund, Sovereign Debt Fund and Credit Fund. Finisterre's five partners, Frode Foss-Skiftesvik, Paul Crean, Rafael Biosse Duplan, Xavier Corin-Mick and Yan Swiderski, will continue to direct the day-to-day operations and retain authority over fund investment decisions.

Through this transaction, Principal will enhance its emerging market investment capabilities, developing a wider platform through the launch of complementary products and strategies and strengthening its multi-boutique model. The company said Finisterre will benefit from access to Principal's global presence and strong distribution network and be able to leverage Principal's product development expertise and best-practice support infrastructure.

The acquisition is expected to close early in the third quarter and is part of Principal Financial Group's 2011 capital deployment strategy of spending about $700 million on attractive merger and acquisition opportunities and a share repurchase program. In terms of earnings per share, Principal estimates the acquisition will be neutral in 2011 and accretive in 2012.

Sandler O'Neill + Partners advised Principal on the transaction, and Fenchurch Advisory Partners advised Finisterre.

Principal Global is a member of Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.