A weekly update on issues important to the Investment Management industry
Asset manager M&A was robust through the first quarter of 2018 against a backdrop of volatile market conditions. Several trends which have driven the uptick in sector M&A have continued into 2018, including revenue and cost pressures and an increasing interest from bank acquirers. We discuss further in this week’s post.
Publicly traded asset managers had a rough first quarter, as volatility returned to the market and major indices posted negative quarterly returns for the first time in over two years. While the overall drop in the market was relatively modest, stock price declines of publicly traded asset managers were generally more significant. It is not surprising that most asset managers have underperformed during periods of declining markets, since the reverse was true during 2017, when most asset managers outperformed the major indices.
Several topics were discussed at the CFA Institute’s Wealth Management Conference, most of which centered around financial planning, practice management, and servicing private clients with evolving needs and return requirements. Though we weren’t able to attend all the sessions, we did pick up on a few themes from our discussions with the attendees and other exhibitors. In this week’s post, we further discuss those themes.
This whitepaper is a compilation of thoughts we have gathered in the early days of this new tax regime. We present what we think are the major issues that RIA partners should consider.
There is an argument to be made that the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act is bullish for RIA M&A, but there is also a counter-argument. In this week’s post, we address both.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) introduces the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction as a partial offset to the bill’s reduction in the relative tax efficiency of pass through entities (S corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships) versus C corporations. Still, many RIAs will not be eligible for the deduction, and those that do will have a lot to keep in mind as it pertains to reasonable compensation levels and investment income. We’ll try to sort it all out for you in this week’s post.
Most of the sector’s recent press has focused on the tax bill’s impact on RIAs, so in addition to our own writings on the matter, we’ve highlighted some of the more salient pieces we’ve come across regarding the tax bill as it relates to the asset management sector.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has really shaken up the underlying economics of investment management firms and, with that, the value of those firms. As a consequence, many owners of RIAs have inaccurate ideas of what their firms are worth, and, worse than that, they have outmoded shareholder agreements suggesting the willingness to transact at inaccurate valuations.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been especially beneficial to the RIA sector, as lower corporate tax rates has had a positive impact on equity markets, boosting AUM and earnings, which are now taxed at lower rates. Many firms are still assessing the full impact of tax reform, but what is clear is that lower corporate tax rates in 2018 will give asset mangers increased flexibility in capital management, M&A activity, and technology investment. As we do every quarter, we take a look at some of the earnings commentary of pacesetters in asset management to gain further insight into the challenges and opportunities developing in the industry.
For this week’s post, we’re offering the slides and recording from our recent webinar on the tax bill’s impact on the investment management community. On balance, we believe most RIAs are better off as a consequence of the legislation, but there are nuances to the “win.”
