Janus Henderson Wants A Share Of India’s Booming Funds Industry
He declined to elaborate on the potential deal size, but said his firm is aiming to finalise an agreement within the next two years.
(Bloomberg) --
Janus Henderson Group Plc is on the lookout for deals to expand its asset management business into India, as the country’s booming stock market and heady growth attract more and more attention from global investors.
The $308 billion asset manager is in early-stage discussions with Indian mutual funds on options ranging from buying midsized companies to inking a joint venture or doing research partnerships, said Andrew Hendry, head of distribution for Asia and chief executive officer for Singapore, in an interview.
He declined to elaborate on the potential deal size, but said the firm is aiming to finalize an agreement within the next two years.
“It’s just the huge, huge burgeoning wealth in India and investments into mutual funds” that has motivated the decision to enter the country, Hendry said. “India is a market of emerging and growing middle class, increasing disposable income, increasing investment, increasing pension fund allocations and that’s not going to change for the next 50 years.”
India’s $4.2 trillion stock market has been all the rage in recent years, with benchmark indexes capping a record eighth straight annual increase in 2023. That’s made equity mutual funds the go-to investment for millions of young Indians with an insatiable thirst for financial gains.
Foreign investors too are flocking in as the world’s fastest-growing major economy is getting a boost from high-profile manufacturing contracts and an improving capital-expenditure cycle, just as China struggles. Overseas funds in 2023 pumped more than $20 billion into the Indian stock market, which is closing in on Hong Kong’s capitalization and could become the fourth-largest globally.
Global investment firms haven’t always had a smooth time in India. Costs and regulatory concerns spurred an exodus of foreign money managers like UBS AG and Morgan Stanley about a decade ago. Now they’re coming back — for example, BlackRock Inc. is joining forces with Reliance Industries Ltd.’s financial services unit to set up a local venture, returning to the country after exiting in 2018.
Even some investors that had stopped paying attention to India are now interested, Hendry said. Some Korean pension funds’ allocations to the country’s stocks neared zero in recent years, but they’re once again asking about India amid a reallocation away from China, he said.
“Every single meeting I’ve had for the last eight, nine years has just been about China,” Hendry said. Now, “people want to talk about India.”
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