Dutch asset manager Robeco is looking at buying European equity asset managers, fund of hedge funds and private equity firms to enlarge its portfolios, but will be very selective, its chief executive said on Friday.
A unit of unlisted Rabobank [RABN.UL], Robeco has 110 billion euros ($145 billion) of assets under management. It also wants to set up an asset management venture in China and is looking at a local partner, Chief Executive George Moller said in an interview.
"There are areas where..we need to be better or we need to be bigger. Then we would buy," he told Reuters, without elaborating on the likely deal size or the time within which he hoped to complete the buy. It manages about 3 billion euros in European equities and $2 billion under its clean technology and sustainable energy private equity fund but felt the portfolios were small and needed to be enhanced, he said. "But we will be very careful," Moller said. ""There is an argument world-wide, should you buy or should you build. There are no wild plans."