Amundi in lead to buy Pioneer

• French investment firm Amundi SA is the front- runner to buy Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA from UniCredit SpA, a business valued at as much as 3.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion), according to people familiar with the transaction.

Amundi is close to agreeing to the purchase in an offer that competed with an Italian consortium of Poste Italiane SpA, Anima Holding SpA and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. No final agreement has been reached, and the offer may not proceed if markets are roiled by Italy’s constitutional referendum on Sunday, one person said.

Amundi is set to pay more than three billion euros for Pioneer, according to the Financial Times, which reported on the bid earlier.

A purchase of Pioneer, which oversees about 226 billion euros, would be the biggest acquisition for Amundi and propel it into the top ranks of global money managers, with almost US $1.4 trillion in assets. For UniCredit, the sale is needed to restore confidence in the Italian lender after a 59- per- cent decline in the shares this year. The bank is also considering raising capital as part of a business plan that is expected to be revealed on Dec. 13.

Pioneer’ s assets are about 55 per cent in fixed income, with most of the rest in equities and mixedallocation products. A price tag of US$ 3.7 billion would make it slightly more expensive relative to assets than Janus Capital Group Inc., the US$ 195- billion Denverbased firm that hired Bill Gross from Pimco in 2014 and has a market value of US$ 2.5 billion. Eaton Vance Corp., the Boston firm that oversees about US$ 336 billion, is worth US $4.5 billion.

Amundi was formed in 2010 when Credit Agricole SA and Société Générale SA combined their assetmanagement units. Chief executive Yves Perrier has said he wants to be a European competitor for U.S. giants like BlackRock Inc., the firm Larry Fink built into the world’s biggest money manager through a series of transformational acquisitions.

The company went public last year to fund its expansion, allowing Société Générale to sell its stake while Credit Agricole remains majority shareholder.

Pioneer, acquired by UniCredit in 2000, draws its origins from one of the oldest U.S. mutual funds, created in 1928 by Philip L. Carret, a financial reporter at business weekly Barron’s. In the 1960s, it was among the first American funds to start business in Italy and Germany.

Macquarie Group Ltd. and Ameriprise Financial Inc. had also submitted offers for Pioneer, a person with knowledge of the plan said earlier.