According to people familiar with the matter, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund has held talks to acquire a stake in major US financial institution HPS.
The deal between the two companies would continue one of the most-watched deals between Wall Street groups: ownership of each other’s products.
The current status of the talks, which one official said were progressing, could not be confirmed and may change in the future.
The business of asset managers buying the stock of other asset managers is booming. After a virtual dead-end start in the early 2010s, there were 38 such deals last year, and new competitors are constantly entering the scene. Blue Owl raised a record $12.9 billion last year to acquire stakes in other management teams, and has already begun raising another round of funding.
Investors benefit from a portion of stable management fees and a portion of the profits when the investment is ultimately sold.
This is a self-propelled, profitable machine that only Wall Street could invent. It can also be a bit circular. Mr. Mubadala has already invested (through a fund) in Blue Owl, which itself owns a stake in HPS.
An HPS spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Representatives for Mubadala could not be reached.
HPS, which has $117 billion under management, is seeking to go public, but faces a frozen market that is just beginning to thaw. Stock prices are high enough to tempt companies, but turbulent enough to keep them away.
Bloomberg reported in March that Vitruvius was looking for investors. It manages 16 billion euros.
