PARIS (Reuters) - French bank Natixis <CNAT.PA> has agreed to buy a majority stake in Australian fund management company Investors Mutual Limited for around A$155 million, as part of its plans to expand in the Asian region.
Natixis Global Asset Management will buy all the shares in Investors Mutual Limited (IML) held by Pacific Current Group <PAC.AX>, along with a portion of the shares in IML held by its founder Anton Tagliaferro, for up to AS$155m in cash.
Natixis will end up with a 51.9 percent stake in IML, which has A$9.1 billion in assets under management, and Natixis added that it expects to close the deal this month.
"We have previously stated that it is our intention to pursue new growth in the Asia Pacific market, and this marks the first acquisition as part of those plans," said Natixis Global Asset Management Chief Executive Jean Raby in a statement.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by Louise Heavens)
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