Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) announced that it will acquire the Global Treasury Funds, which are a range of money market funds managed by RBS Asset Management.
GSAM has a long history of partnering with institutions to deliver liquidity solutions and over 30 years of experience managing money market funds using a conservative approach. This transaction complements GSAM’s strong fixed income and liquidity management businesses in Europe and globally.
“GSAM’s acquisition of these money market funds emphasizes our strong and continued commitment to providing liquidity solutions on a global scale,” said Timothy J. O’Neill and Eric S. Lane, co-heads of the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs.
“GSAM is a global leader in liquidity management with $195 billion in money market fund assets under management, 33% of which is in Europe,” said Kathleen Hughes, GSAM’s Global Head of Liquidity Sales and European Head of Institutional Sales. “This acquisition has the potential to nearly double the size of our Sterling-denominated offering and strengthen GSAM’s position in the European market, ensuring we are well positioned to deliver the scale and service that our clients have come to expect.”
Commenting on the transaction, Scott McMunn, CEO, RBSAM said: “From RBS’s perspective, this transaction represents another stage in our strategic plan to focus on our core customer franchises. We are confident that this represents the best deal for our clients.”
Both RBS and GSAM have said they are fully committed to continuing excellent service for RBS money market fund clients and will work in partnership to ensure a seamless transition. There will be no changes in how accounts will be managed during the transition period and no expenses will be borne by any of the funds or investors.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, subject to approval by the Central Bank of Ireland and the Irish Stock Exchange (the Global Treasury Funds are Irish domiciled funds), as well as a fund investor vote.