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Article: M&A Revival Eludes Asset Managers.
- Article from:
- Investment Dealers' Digest
- Article date:
- May 3, 2004
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When UnitedHealth Group announced a week ago that it would pay $4.7 billion in stock and cash to acquire Oxford Health Plans Inc., Eric Weber, a partner at investment banking shop Freeman & Co., said the acquisition only reminded him of what isn't happening within his own deal universe: asset management.
Oxford's market capitalization totals $4.48 billion, Weber said, which makes the insurer comparable in size to, say, Janus Capital Group, whose market cap amounts to $3.7 billion. "Janus could probably do something," Weber said. "The problem is that the asset management industry is under intense scrutiny by [New York Attorney General] Eliot Spitzer & Co."