L.S.E. is also taking on Russell’s asset management business, which has $256 billion in assets under management. U.K.-based L.S.E. said it will review how Russell’s asset management business fits with its existing operations.
There was previous speculation that Northwestern Mutual would only sell Russell in whole, not break the asset management and indexing businesses apart. There has also been chatter that L.S.E. could spin-off Russell’s asset management operations in the future.
The deal is expected to generate cost savings of $78 per year by the end of the third year. Prior to the deal, over 100 U.S.-listed ETFs tracked FTSE indices.
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of IWM.