Delta Lloyd buys Dutch asset manager

NETHERLANDS - Delta Lloyd, the Dutch subsidiary of Aviva, is acquiring Cyrte Investments.

The Cyrte boutique, originally founded in 2000 to manage the private wealth of media media-entrepreneur John de Mol, set up two investment funds focusing on the telecommunication, media and technology industry.

But earlier this year, €70bn Dutch health worker pension fund PGGM became the first to invest in the Cyrte 1 fund, allocating €500m. The Cyrte 1 fund is open to professional investors only and the asset manager aims for assets in the region of €1-1.5bn.

"The most important thing is that Cyrte Investments brings us the results and know-how we have agreed upon," a spokeswoman for PGGM told IPE.

"If that continues with Delta Lloyd we are content. It's less relevant for us who is the owner of Cyrte Investments."

Delta Lloyd currently has €52bn in assets under management and is almost solely managed for institutional investors in Europe.

"Cyrte fits perfectly with Delta Lloyd's successful strategy of managing profitable funds with a distinctive investment profile," commnted Alex Otto, investment director of Delta Lloyd Asset Management.

Cyrte also said in a statement the acquisition will help the boutique to "grow the two existing funds into a broad investment platform".