M&A

9 November, 2009

Affiliated Managers' new stake extends push to Asia

* Stake in Value Partners extends push into Asia

* AMG hopes to open office in Hong Kong next year

BOSTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Affiliated Managers Group, a holding company for money management firms, on Monday said it had taken a stake in Value Partners Group Limited, extending its push into Asia and into hedge funds.

Beverly, Massachusetts-based AMG, which made its first hedge fund investment in 2004, did not say how much it paid for the 5 percent stake in the 16-year-old Hong Kong-based asset manager, which was ranked as Asia's second-largest hedge fund manager this year.

Value Partners, which employs 78 people and specializes in value-oriented strategies with a focus on Greater China, has $4.6 billion in assets under management. It was co-founded by Cheah Cheng Hye.

"Our investment in Value Partners marks our entry into the Greater China region, and we are very pleased to partner with one of the largest and most respected independent boutique asset management firms," AMG Chief Executive Sean Healey said in a statement.

The two will work together on distribution and AMG expects to open a sales and marketing office in Hong Kong in 2010.

For AMG, this marks another stake into alternative asset firms at a time when these managers are attractive for all types of portfolios even though the industry suffered heavy losses in 2008.

AMG, which has stakes in hedge funds ValueAct Capital, AQR Capital Management and BlueMountain Capital Management, has roughly $200 billion in assets under management. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://www.reuters.com