Merger of Actus Asset Management and İstanbul Asset Management

Two leading asset management companies of Turkey, Actus Asset Management and İstanbul Asset Management have reached an agreement to merge, creating the largest domestic and independent asset management company in Turkey…

Global Investment Holdings’ (GIH) asset management subsidiary Actus Asset Management and Turkey’s largest domestic and independent asset management company İstanbul Asset Management have reached an agreement to merge. Once both companies merge under İstanbul Asset Management, Actus’ current shareholders GIH and Polsan (Police care and support fund) will hold a 33.25% stake in the merged entity; and GIH will have an option to buy 40% of the shares of the merged entity. Such merger transaction is subject to regulatory approvals as well as completion of the pre-conditions.

Actus Asset Management’s current corporate investor base and market leader position in alternative asset classes, combined with İstanbul Asset Management’s wide investor base and foreign country asset fund; the most extensive asset management platform of Turkey should emerge. Actus Asset Management has an AUM of TL828.4mn, and İstanbul Asset Management has an AUM of TL2.3bn as of the end of April 2019.

Looking forward, transforming into Turkey’s largest asset management platform with a post-merger AUM of over TL3bn; these companies are aiming to strengthen their positions in the capital markets and continue to contribute to the capital markets and Turkey.

We are achieving our goal
Mehmet Kutman, Chairman of GIH stated that “We have served as a bridge between international capital markets and our country since 1990, when we hit the road with capital markets brokerage activities. In 2017, when we went to a strategic partnership with Centricus, a London based asset management company embracing large scale global strategic investors; one of our goals was to create the largest domestic and independent asset management company in Turkey. I am truly happy to be realizing our goal.”

First step in growth strategy
Dalınç Arıburnu, co-founder of Centricus commented: “The merger of Actus Asset Management and İstanbul Asset Management combines two of Turkey’s leading asset managers and is a welcome first step in GIH’s asset management growth strategy. We will continue to support GIH and its subsidiaries, as we have done since we first became a strategic investor in 2017, to achieve our strategic objectives and deliver results.”

Further strengthening of our asset
Commenting on the merger, Barış Hocaoğlu, CEO of Actus Asset Management stated, “As the first step of GIH’s growth strategy in asset management after Centricus partnership, the merger will create synergy through the know-how accumulated by the two organizations over the years that will be elevated to new levels with the corporate support of GIH and Centricus. GIH plans to strengthen its presence in the sector through new mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances, including the exercise of the option to purchase majority shares in the merged entity.”

İstanbul Asset Management strengthens its position with merged entity
Chairman of the Board Turgay Ozaner states that Istanbul Asset Management has been on a steady course of growth since the 2012 take-over and has demonstrated the value of fully independent asset managers to the financial sector by delivering satisfactory results. Ozaner further comments that the merger will be a catalyst for further enrichment of the sector.

Burak Ustay, CEO of Istanbul Asset Management, has also commented that consolidation of the sector will continue, and Istanbul Asset Management was one of the pioneers in this direction by successfully completing two mergers in 2017 and 2018. With the new merger, Ustay says, 2 companies are uniting their strong muscles in a powerful engine which will serve both local/international, individual/institutional investor bases by offering a large variety of investment opportunities.

About Actus Asset Management:
The company was established in 2012 by the Police Care and Support Fund (Polsan); while 90.1% shares of the company was acquired by Global Investment Holdings in 2015. Since this acquisition, Actus has grown by approximately 6 folds, managing TL820mn AUM as of the end of 2018. 9.9% of the shares are still owned by Polsan.

In addition to the 5 mutual investment funds launched by Actus, the company manages 3 pension funds. Actus Asset Management also manages 3 venture capital funds it launched, each of which is a first in its field.

Actus Asset Management is the largest asset management company in venture capital investment funds. The company provided equity financing to Gaziantep Şehir Hastanesi (public hospital), while founding managing Turkey’s first diversified renewable energy private equity investment fund.

About Istanbul Asset Management:
Istanbul Asset Management is founded in 2007 as Turkey’s first fully independent asset management company with 100% domestic capital. In 2012, 100% of shares of the company were acquired by 5 investors. With the new shareholding structure, Istanbul Asset Management was able to expand its portfolio by 50 folds by the end of 2018, from TL45 mn to TL2.14 bn.

Istanbul Asset Management manages 5 mutual investment funds, 7 hedge fund, 3 pension funds and 2 venture capital investment funds. These 2 venture capital investment funds and 3 pension funds were launched by Istanbul Asset Management. The 2 venture capital investment funds are composed of 1) investments in technology start-ups 2) health tourism.

Istanbul Asset Management manages the portfolios of Turkey’s leading institutions, insurance companies, large conglomerates, and foreign national / private institutional investors’ portfolios in Turkey.