This morning it has been announced that Nuveen, a US asset manager subsidiary of TIAA, is set to acquire Schroders for around £9.9 billion, creating a significant global group with around US $2.5 trillion of assets under management, but notably for our market with the Schroders brand to be retained.Schroders is, of course, a very well-known name in insurance-linked securities, with the ILS team within its Schroders Capital private assets unit one of the longest-standing and largest ILS managers in the space.The Schroders Capital ILS team manages over $6.5 billion in ILS assets for its third-party investor clients, operating one of the  largest catastrophe bond fund strategies in the world, as well as private ILS strategies which are focused more on collateralized reinsurance investments.The Schroders Capital ILS team originated from .

, taking a 30% stake in the ILS specialist advisor and manager at that time.Secquaero was launched in 2007 by industry veteran Dirk Lohmann.As a result, Schroders has had an interest in a dedicated ILS investment management unit for a longt time and took full ownership of one in 2019.

Cat bond and ILS investment management is now a core private market alternatives offering of the firm, sitting within the private debt and credit alternatives area of Schroders Capital.Hence, today’s news of an acquisition of Schroders by Nuveen is notable, not just for the additional and significant scale and resources this delivers, (which will drive benefits through the Schroders business and to its clients) but also for the fact the Schroders brand will be retained as well, which means continuity for the clients of the Schroders Capital ILS team.The acquisition creates one of the world’s largest asset management groups with $2.5 trillion.

On the private markets side, bringing together Nuveen’s privates business with Schroders Capital, will expand that business specialism to assets under management of $414 billion across the group.That creates one of the largest alternative investment platforms in the world, with significant access to capital, scale and investor reach.Which presumably can only assist and benefit the Schroders Capital ILS team’s business as well, potentially opening up their cat bond and ILS investment strategies to a new range of clients and allowing them to recognise synergies in marketing funds through the Nuveen private markets business as well.

With the insurance-linked securities asset class already institutionalised and well-known in investor markets, the added scale through becoming part of the Nuveen and TIAA group and sphere of influence can only help to further expand awareness of the Schroders Capital ILS offering over time.Nuveen does not have its own dedicated ILS expertise, we believe.So ILS is a net-new addition to that group, bringing new expertise and opportunity.

Richard Oldfield, Group Chief Executive of Schroders commented, “In a competitive landscape where scale can help deliver benefits, in Nuveen we see a partner that shares our values, respects the culture we have built and will create exciting opportunities for our clients and people.The transaction will significantly accelerate our growth plans to create a leading public-to-private platform with enhanced geographic reach and a strengthened balance sheet.Together, we can create an exceptional opportunity to provide clients with a true breadth of high-quality solutions to meet their evolving needs.” William Huffman, the Chief Executive Officer of Nuveen, added, “Through this exciting and transformational step for both of our distinguished firms, we look forward to welcoming Schroders into the Nuveen family.

By bringing our complementary platforms, capabilities, distribution networks and cultures together, we will create an extraordinary opportunity to enhance the way we serve our collective clients through access to new markets, bolstered product offerings, and deeper pools of investment talent.This transaction is about unlocking new growth opportunities for wealth and institutional investors around the world by giving our leading, differentiated public-to-private platform a broader global presence.” Dame Elizabeth Corley, Chair of Schroders, further stated, “The Combined Group will bring together two successful firms with shared values and highly complementary strengths to create a new global leader in public-to-private investment management.Building on Schroders’ heritage, London will remain at the heart of this enlarged business and the transaction will deliver an attractive premium in cash to our shareholders, reflecting the value of our business and its future prospects.

The board of Schroders is confident that this is the right step for our shareholders, clients and people.”.All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance can be accessed online.Our can be subscribed to using the typical podcast services providers, including Apple, Google, Spotify and more.