Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Holdings, the largest shareholder in UK fund manager Janus Henderson Group, is selling off its entire 17% stake as the insurer looks to realign its global business strategies.
Janus Henderson says it has formed a new strategic cooperation with Dai-ichi Life under which a senior executive from the insurance firm will help lead its business in Japan. The companies will also collaborate on development and distribution of new products.
The stake sale is being done via an underwritten public secondary offering of 30.67 million shares at US$29.25 per share. Janus Henderson says it intends to purchase up to $230 million worth of the shares.
“Dai-ichi has made a strategic decision to focus capital on its global insurance business. As such, Dai-ichi has determined to monetise its equity stake in Janus Henderson and has relinquished its board seat,” the fund manager says in a statement on February 5.
Janus Henderson was born of the 2017 merger between US investment firm Janus Capital and the UK’s Henderson Group. Dai-ichi Life had been working with Janus Capital since 2012.
“Although we’re disappointed to lose Dai-ichi as a shareholder, today’s news does not change the path that Janus Henderson is on to deliver simple excellence across our business,” Chief Executive Officer Dick Weil says in the statement.
Dai-ichi Life President Seiji Inagaki adds that the relationship between the companies “has benefited both our organisations over the last eight years, and we are pleased that our partnership will continue”.
London-based Janus Henderson had $402 billion of total assets under management as of December 2020, and Tokyo-based Dai-ichi Life had 36.8 trillion yen ($349.6 billion) of assets as of September 2020.
