With a sale process for Artemis now reportedly underway, staff and shareholders in the company may ponder two sliding doors moments in recent years that could have materially altered the outlook for the long-established asset management firm.
The first such moment was when Artemis management offered to buy emerging market fund house Somerset Capital in 2019.
Somerset Capital later lost one of its co-founders to a political career, and subsequently its largest client, St James Place, and wound itself up.
The second was when, around two years ago, Fenchurch Advisory Partners was appointed by Artemis “to explore strategic options” for the company.
That was at a time when private equity buyers were circling asset managers, and there was some interest, but nothing was consummated Offically Artemis said at the time the company was not for sale.
No transaction occurred, and since then the valuations of stock-market-listed asset management companies, against which Artemis can be compared in valuation terms, have declined.
Artemis is 60 per cent owned by US firm Affiliated Managers Group, with the other 40 per cent in the hands of around 30 current and former Artemis employees.
But as the sale memo is distributed around the City, what sort of business is a potential purchaser getting, and what could the future hold for Artemis?
One wealth manager, speaking anonymously to protect business relationships, tells FT Adviser he is “surprised” that Artemis is for sale now, “because I think Artemis as a company is really starting to turn around.
"Two years ago, that business was on its knees, but a combination of improved market conditions and the success of their fixed income franchise means it has turned around."
Show us the money
As the chart below shows, at the end of December 2023 the assets under management of Artemis UK wholesale and retail fund range was £17.4bn.
This is a fall from two years prior, at the end of 2021, when this book of business was closer to £20bn in size, with an additional £10bn or so in institutional money, according to data from Morningstar, obtained by FT Adviser.
When FT Adviser's sister publication Asset Allocator sourced the same data in 2021, the companied number was £30bn.
Of course, most asset management firms have seen their AUM decline since the start of 2022, as market conditions and higher interest rates have taken a toll.
That £17bn figure excludes assets run by Artemis for institutional investors, clients in EU-domiciled funds, and within investment trusts.
When those assets are included, the AUM of the company is around £22bn. Artemis state that at the end of March the total assets under management was £24.7bn, with £5.1bn of that institutional.
The investment trust division suffered a blow in 2023 when the board of the Mid Wynd Investment Trust, a £400mn vehicle, removed it from Artemis, following the exit of its fund manager, and chose Lazard instead.
Darius McDermott, investment adviser for the VT Chelsea Managed Funds range, is a fan of the Artemis fund range, saying: “We are big fans of Artemis and have been for a long time.
