UK asset manager Gresham House has completed the acquisition of Dublin-based investment group Appian Asset Management in a deal that values it at up to €10 million.
Appian was established in 2002 by chief executive Patrick Lawless, who is a key shareholder alongside Greg Lawless and Kevin Menton. The firm has about €350 million of assets under management, and operates a range of funds that invest globally across traditional and alternative asset classes including equities, property, infrastructure and forestry.
Appian will receive an initial €4.55 million, with further payment subject to certain performance targets being met over the next three years.
Gresham House has more than €4.5 billion in assets under management on behalf of institutions, family offices, charities and endowments, private individuals and their advisers and and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange.
Mr Lawless, who will continue to lead the business in Ireland in the new role of managing director of Gresham House Ireland, said that the acquisition would bring immediate benefits to institutional and private clients in Ireland and would lead to the roll-out of innovative investment products and strategies in the coming years.
“Our goal is to maintain and develop our existing fund offerings for clients in Ireland and introduce Gresham House’s exceptional range of sustainable investments,” he said.
“ This is a huge growth area internationally and we will be able to bring their market leading investment strategies and platforms to clients here in Ireland,” he added.
Tony Dalwood, chief executive of Gresham House said: "We are really excited to have competed the acquisition of Appian and to bring the Gresham House brand to the Irish market."
“Our ambition is to increase investment into Ireland and the transaction forms part of our international expansion plans with the addition of a regulated EU-based platform post-Brexit. It also accelerates our growth plans, as set out in our five-year strategy known as GH25,” he said.
