United Asset Management

United Asset Management
Private
Industry Financial services
Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Norton Reamer (CEO and founder)
Products Financial investments

United Asset Management was an American holding company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts[1] that owned a number of financial-sector companies. It was founded in 1980 by Norton Reamer, who previously had served as the CEO of Putnam Investments.[2] The company was the first major firm with a business model that consisted of purchasing a number of money management firms.[3]

UAM's strategy was to purchase a variety of investment management firms, and then keep a portion of the firms' profits. They allowed each company to operate autonomously and did not close poorly performing units. More than half of UAM's assets were retirement funds.[1] They used stock and cash to fund its acquisitions. They used First Boston as an investment bank to raise money for takeovers, using equity rather than convertible bonds.[4] Some investors viewed the idea of purchasing stock in UAM as akin to an option on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was listed in 1987.[2][5]

In 2000, UAM was purchased by Old Mutual for US$1.46 billion in cash. Old Mutual also assumed UAM net debt of around US$769 million.[2] The company was then renamed Old Mutual Asset Management US.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Weintraub, Arlene (March 15, 1998). "United Asset Hopes Its First-Aid Plan Will Stop the Bleeding". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Thakray, Rachelle (June 20, 2000). "Old Mutual extends US reach". The Independent. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Campbell, John (Spring 1997). "Inside the Market for Private Businesses". Regional Review 7 (2).
  4. ↑ Williamson, John Peter (1988), The Investment banking handbook, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 122–123, ISBN 978-0-471-81562-4
  5. ↑ Wayne, Leslie (January 17, 1994). "United Asset: Little-Known Financial Giant". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  6. ↑ Kallifatides, Markus; Nachemson-Ekwall, Sophie; Sjöstrand, Sven-Erik (2010), Corporate governance in modern financial capitalism: Old Mutual's hostile takeover of Skandia, Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 149, ISBN 978-1-84844-684-7

External links