F&C Asset Management

F&C Asset Management Plc
A wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Montreal (BMO)
Industry Investment management
Founded 1972
Headquarters London, England, UK
Key people

Kieran Poynter
(Non-Executive Chairman)

Richard Wilson
(Chief Executive)
Revenue £257.5 million (2013)[1]
£38.5 million (2013)[1]
£10.2 million (2013)[1]
Website www.fandc.com

F&C Asset Management Plc is an asset management company and is part of BMO Global Asset Management.

History

The Company was founded in 1972 as the manager of the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust under the name F&C Management Limited.[2]

In 1985 the Company started managing third party funds.[2] In 1989 the Company established a partnership with Germany’s HypoVereinsbank who acquired a 50% stake in the business; this stake was increased to 90% in 1998.[2] In 2000 Eureko purchased HypoVereinsbank’s 90% stake and in 2001 went on to secure 100% control and consolidate their asset management activities with those of the Company under the F&C brand.[2]

In 2004 ISIS Asset Management merged with F&C Management Limited to form F&C Asset Management and the combined business was then listed on the London Stock Exchange.[2]

In 2008 Friends Provident announced its intention to divest its shareholding in F&C Asset Management.[3] This was completed in 2009.[4]

On 7 May 2014, F&C Asset Management plc was acquired by Bank of Montreal through its wholly owned subsidiary, BMO Global Asset Management (Europe) Limited.[5]

Operations

The Company's investments include key asset classes such as equities, bonds, cash and property – as well as alternative and specialist sectors such as socially responsible investment, hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and private equity funds.

F&C is dedicated to asset management. The company’s clients include retail investors, financial advisers, and large institutional investors such as public authorities and insurance charities. The Company has offices throughout the world, and has more than three million private and corporate clients on whose behalf, as at 31 December 2013, it managed £82 billion of assets.[6]

Assets are managed from three principal investment centres: London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. The Company has an office network spanning nine countries: China (Hong Kong), France (Paris), Germany (Frankfurt and Munich), India (Mumbai), Ireland (Dublin), The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Portugal (Lisbon), Sweden (Stockholm), Switzerland (Geneva) and the UK (London and Edinburgh).

F&C was the official sponsor of Birmingham City F.C. between 2007 and 2011.[7]

Headquarters

The company’s head office is at the heart of the City of London in Exchange House, Primrose Street, London. The building is regarded as one of the finest buildings in the City and is situated in the Broadgate complex near to Liverpool Street station. The company moved here from its office in Laurence Pountney Hill in 1990.

Exchange House itself is a striking building. Conventional foundations were not possible as the design had to accommodate the existing railway lines and London Underground network lying beneath the site. As a result, the building was designed with a metal exoskeleton which dominates the exterior and supports the weight of the building through a steel frame resting on bridge-like foundations.

Ownership

On 7 May 2014, F&C Asset Management plc was acquired by Bank of Montreal through its wholly owned subsidiary, BMO Global Asset Management (Europe) Limited.[8] Prior to this it was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Preliminary Results 2013
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 F&C History
  3. ↑ Friends Provident to sell Asset Management
  4. ↑ Our history F&C Asset Management
  5. ↑ "Bank of Montreal Agrees to Acquire F&C for $1.2 Billion". Bloomberg. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  6. ↑ F&C Asset Management Interim Report 2009 page 1
  7. ↑ F&C in sponsorship deal with Birmingham FC Money Marketing, 31 May 2007
  8. ↑ Gavin Finch and Doug Alexander (January 28, 2014). "Bank of Montreal Agrees to Acquire F&C for $1.2 Billion". Bloomberg Business.

Further reading

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