MetLife to acquire $6B portfolio management teams from Mesirow

In a bid to further solidify its asset management offerings, MetLife has struck a deal to help deepen its in-house talent pool with a powerhouse team of investment professionals.

On Wednesday, the firm announced that MetLife Investment Management, its institutional investment division, is acquiring three portfolio management teams and their associated assets from Mesirow, an independent financial services firm.

The transaction, which is still subject to customary approvals, will bring approximately $6 billion in assets managed by the teams to MIM.

The acquisition will involve Mesirow’s high yield and bank loan, strategic fixed income, and small-cap equity teams, along with their related investment products. Around 20 investment professionals are expected to transition to MetLife Investment Management following the deal’s completion.

“Building businesses with investment talent is a core belief,” Jude Driscoll, president of MetLife Investment Management, said in a statement Wednesday. “As fundamental, bottom-up investors, these investment teams are excellent strategic fits and bring seasoned talent to MIM.”

MetLife said the move aligns with its New Frontier strategy, which focuses on accelerating growth in asset management, while expanding MIM's offerings and adding capabilities in higher-yield strategies. As of September 30, MIM reportedly had just over $609 billion in total AUM.

The acquisition is expected to enhance the firm’s leveraged finance platform by introducing opportunistic high-yield and bank loan offerings. These strategies are designed to complement its existing portfolio, including investments that the firm expects to add through its late-December acquisition of PineBridge Investments. Speculation around that deal, which includes PineBridge's assets outside China, began as early as October.

"By leveraging the power of the MIM platform, we believe we can accelerate growth in these strategies through investment performance and the breadth of our distribution capabilities,” Driscoll added.

“We are confident that MetLife will deliver scaled resources well suited to these three traditional [high yield and bank loan, strategic fixed income, and small-cap equity] investment strategies," Mesirow Chief Executive Officer Natalie Brown said of the transaction. "Going forward, Mesirow will continue to focus on growing our alternatives capabilities and core Wealth Management, Fiduciary Solutions, and Capital Markets/Investment Banking offerings."

Counting all those pieces, Mesirow's platform represents more than $300 billion in assets under supervision, according to Brown.