Fortis snaps up WestAM's Tokyo arm
GLOBAL - Fortis Investments has acquired the Japanese equity capability of the German-owned asset manager WestAM.
The addition to Fortis’s product offering is seen as another step in the building of a comprehensive investment management capability based on specialised investment centres, staffed with skilled investment experts.
The transaction sees Fortis Investments acquire both the expertise of the existing head, Kazuhito Yoshihara, his team of four equity professionals and a small number of sales, marketing and support staff, plus a top quartile four year track record in Japanese equities.
With this acquisition, Fortis Investments also completes its global equity and global sector funds’ offering and further enhances its balanced product.
William De Vijlder, global CIO, said: “This acquisition of a stand-alone Japanese equity capability is not only important for the Japanese product per se, but also for the benefits it brings to the other investment centres of having colleagues based in Tokyo.”
WestAM said it will henceforth focus its sales efforts in Japan on products offered from elsewhere within the WestAM Group, in particular its range of private equity products. WestAM will maintain its sales and client service presence in Tokyo under the leadership of Izumi Konishi, Japanese head of new business development and client service.
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