Robeco takes majority stake in SAM Group

London, 14 December: Netherlands-based asset manager Robeco has acquired a controlling 64% share in SAM Group for an undisclosed sum.

SAM, a sustainable asset manager which helped build the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and which runs a number of socially responsible investment funds, will retain the remaining 36% of shares.

The Zurich-based group has Sfr3.6 billion ($3 billion) of assets under management and another Sfr6.4 billion in advisory mandates.

George Möller, chief executive of Robeco, said of the acquisition: "It is a clear indication that this industry will come out of its niche and become mainstream."

Reto Ringger, chief executive of SAM, said that Robeco, and its parent company Rabobank Groep, was an attractive acquirer because of its shared concern for sustainability and its experience in "engineering products".

Ringger added: "Now the rules are changing, we see much bigger players coming into the field. We need to find access to distribution. That is why we have teamed up with Robeco."

He indicated that the two firms already have plans for a number of product launches, including a climate change fund and a collaboration with a major Japanese bank to create a sustainability-themed fund.

"There are new products coming out of the kitchen of SAM and Robeco," he said.

SAM will continue to trade under its brand name and operate under the same management. Möller and Sander van Eijkern, another Robeco board member, will also join its board of directors.

Following Robeco's acquisition of its parent company, the managers of SAM Private Equity have bought out that part of SAM group, and relaunched it under the name Emerald Technology Ventures.

After the transfer on 1 January 2007, Emerald will take with it €250 million ($330 million) of assets under management and 16 staff from SAM Group.