Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Northern Trust Closes UBS Fund Servicing Units' Acquisition

Read MoreHide Full Article

Recently, Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS - Free Report) completed the acquisition of UBS Asset Management's fund administration servicing units in Luxembourg and Switzerland. In order to expand presence in Luxembourg and provide fund administration service in Switzerland, Northern Trust had entered into the deal with UBS Group AG (UBS - Free Report) in February 2017.

This acquisition has positioned Northern Trust as a leading administrator in Switzerland and also placed it among the top 10 asset servicing providers, in terms of assets under administration, in the Luxembourg market.

Terms of Agreement

The acquisition has enabled Northern Trust to provide fund administrative services for funds with approximately $413 billion (CHF420 billion) in assets (as of Dec 31, 2016).

Post acquisition, around 200 new employees joined Northern Trust. Moreover, the bank has opened a new office in Basel, Switzerland.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of our acquisition of UBS Asset Management's fund administration servicing units in Luxembourg and Switzerland,” said Teresa Parker, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Northern Trust. “This acquisition is a cornerstone of our strategic expansion plan for Continental Europe and represents a significant opportunity to broaden our scale, capabilities, products and market reach across Europe, enabling us to further enhance our services to existing and future clients and strengthening our position as a leader in the region,” added Parker.

Conclusion

This acquisition will not only help Northern Trust expand its current client base, but also will enable it to diversify product and service offerings across Europe. This acquisition, as an initiative to tackle the macroeconomic headwinds, is anticipated to boost the company’s financial results. The deal also reflects its strong capital and balance sheet position.

Over the last couple of years, Northern Trust has been focused on initiating new businesses. As a result, it has been successful in adding institutional clients and assets.

Northern Trust’s stock has gained 6.6% over the last six months compared with 8.4% growth registered by the industry.



Currently, Northern Trust carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the same space are M&T Bank Corporation (MTB - Free Report) and The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC - Free Report) . Both carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

M&T Bank’s earnings estimates for 2017 have been revised slightly upward, over the last 30 days. Further, in a year’s time, the company’s shares have jumped 39.8%.

PNC Financial’s earnings estimates have been revised slightly upward for 2017, in the past 30 days. Also, its share price has surged 50.8% over the last year.

Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies

It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7%, and +90.2% respectively.

And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.

See Them Free>>

Published in