THE FCA yesterday gave the green light to the takeover of River and Mercantile by the investment vehicle headed by city veteran Martin Gilbert.

Assetco, led by Gilbert, agreed a deal to buy the investment management in January for £98.8m after a bidding war with rival investor Premier Miton.

Gilbert's Assetco announced its "firm intentions" to buy the firm after Premier withdrew, with the deal then receiving 100 per cent backing from shareholders.

River and Mercantile boss Alex Hoctor-Duncan said the firms were now looking ahead to growth this year.

"Now we have secured the green light from the FCA we can look forward to the next stage of our journey as an integrated part of Assetco, with a strong balance sheet that we will invest in people, technology and making the business a compelling place to work," he said yesterday.

"We are going into the second half of 2022 as a streamlined, focused, nimble organisation that can react with speed, is not afraid to disrupt the status quo and is ready to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the market today."

Gilbert told reporters in January River and Mercantile's "thoughtful asset management strategy" would offer "powerful growth opportunities as we move into more unsettled and uncertain markets".

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper