BlackRock, the company behind iShares, has agreed to buy Claymore Canada, manager of the Claymore family of ETFs, from its parent company, Guggenheim Partners. Upon closing, the transaction will augment BlackRock’s roster of ETFs and deepen BlackRock’s footprint in Canada.
Som Seif, President and CEO of Claymore.
“We started Claymore Investments with the idea of truly driving change and improvement in Canada, and I am proud of the impact we have had on the Canadian investment landscape. Advisers and investors have embraced our products as valuable components of their investment portfolios and we believe inclusion in the iShares family is sure to increase their popularity,” said Som Seif, pictured left, President and CEO of Claymore.
Claymore Canada manages 34 ETFs, many of which track innovative non-traditional benchmarks linked to fundamental-, sector- or commodities-based indices. As at 31 December, 2011, these funds, along with two closed-end funds, represented over C$6.9 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Todd Boehly, president of Guggenheim Partners, said, “our investment in Claymore Investments embodies Guggenheim’s philosophy of supporting industry innovators and pre-eminent investment managers. We couldn’t be more pleased with the result of our partnership with Som and his team in Canada.”
“This transaction brings together two innovative investment fund providers and creates an unparalleled opportunity to serve our Canadian clients,” said Bill Chinery, head of BlackRock Canada. “Claymore Canada brings a complementary set of ETFs to the world-class iShares range of products and enhances our ability to compete against other investment fund providers in Canada.”
As at 31 December, 2011, BlackRock offered 48 ETFs in Canada under the iShares brand, representing C$29 billion in AUM.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and other approvals. If approved, the transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2012 and will be “neutral to modestly accretive” to full-year earnings, New York-based BlackRock said.
From the perspective of Guggenheim, the disposal appears to reflect the company’s strategy to focus on its growing presence in the US ETF market, where it has made a number of acquisitions in recent years that have propelled it into eighth place in terms of ETF AUM.