Merrill Lynch & Co.'s asset management unit said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy two Dutch asset management units of the giant Royal Philips Electronics corporation.
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers agreed to buy PPCC bv and PIM bv, the internal investment management units of Royal Philips, as part of a strategic partnership with the Philips Pension Fund. The deal includes a seven-year contract to manage $16 billion of Philips Pension Fund assets in the Netherlands. Its terms were not disclosed.
Robert McCann, an executive vice president and vice chairman of the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Group, said the deal would make Merrill Lynch Investment Managers the largest nondomestic active manager in the Netherlands.
The units to be acquired are in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and have more than 50 employees. The deal is expected to close during this quarter. The units are then to operate under the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers name.
