London, February 12, 2026, 07:59 GMT
Nuveen has agreed to buy British asset manager Schroders for 9.9 billion pounds ($13.5 billion), a deal that would create a group managing nearly $2.5 trillion in assets under management — client money overseen for investors. (Reuters)
The tie-up lands as fund managers face fee pressure, higher operating costs and a client push into private markets such as infrastructure and private credit, where margins can be fatter but investment teams are expensive.
It also speaks to the scramble for distribution. Big platforms can spread costs across more funds, and sell products across regions without rebuilding from scratch every time.
Pantheon, a newly incorporated Nuveen unit, is offering Schroders shareholders 590 pence a share in cash plus up to 22 pence in permitted dividends — payments allowed before completion without reducing the cash price. That lifts the value to as much as 612 pence a share, including a 34% premium to Schroders’ closing price of 456 pence on Feb. 11; the cash element alone is a 29% premium, and the deal implies about 17 times Schroders’ 2025 adjusted operating profit after tax, the offer document showed. (Investegate)
Nuveen said Schroders will keep its chief executive, Richard Oldfield, who will report to Nuveen CEO William Huffman and join Nuveen’s executive management team. Huffman said the deal was about “unlocking new growth opportunities” for investors, while the companies said London would serve as the combined group’s non-U.S. headquarters and largest office. (PR Newswire)
Oldfield told staff and clients that “scale can help deliver benefits” in a tougher market, while Schroders chair Elizabeth Corley said London would remain “at the heart” of the enlarged business. (Insider Media Ltd)
Schroders’ own numbers show why scale is a live issue. It reported assets under management of 823.7 billion pounds at the end of 2025 and said adjusted operating profit rose 25% to 756.6 million pounds; Oldfield said the group had “returned to growth” as it pushed through a wider overhaul. (MarketScreener)
The companies have framed the merger around a “public-to-private” platform — shorthand for combining traditional listed-market portfolios with private assets that are harder to buy and sell, and harder to run cheaply.
The combined group would sit in a crowded field of giants. Active managers are trying to defend themselves against low-cost index funds and against global rivals with deep private-markets franchises, from BlackRock to Amundi and UK players like Legal & General’s investment arm.
But the numbers on a slide deck do not close deals. The takeover still needs shareholder support and regulatory sign-offs, and the biggest operational risk is softer: clients can move money fast if they dislike a new parent, or if key portfolio managers walk.
Britain’s Takeover Panel listed Schroders as being in an offer period starting at 0700 GMT on Thursday, with Pantheon, a Nuveen subsidiary, named as the offeror — a formal step that kicks the process into its court-and-shareholder timetable. (Investegate)
