US competition regulators are tightening their scrutiny of mergers of private equity portfolio companies. Could antitrust regulators soon be coming for alternative asset managers themselves?
That question is prompted by the plan of buyout titan TPG to spend $2.7bn in cash and stock on the specialist credit and real estate manager Angelo Gordon.
Assets managed by the listed private capital stalwart will go from $135bn to just over $200bn. It said pensions and sovereign wealth funds increasingly want one-stop shopping when allocating capital between buyouts, fixed income, real estate and the like. In particular, investors have developed a taste for insurance affiliates.