River and Mercantile has hired Lazard and Fenchurch Advisory Partners to advise the board on the potential sale of its £43bn Solutions business.
Following speculation, the company confirmed that they had received several approaches from external parties “expressing interest in acquiring the solutions business”.
It added that discussions remained at an early stage, with no assurance of a transaction at this stage.
The Solutions business was rebranded in 2018, having been known as P-Solve up until that point. The rebrand was an attempt by the company to streamline and unify its divisions.
Should a sale of this division take place, it would be the first significant development since industry veteran Martin Gilbert (pictured) invested in the firm via his dealmaking comeback vehicle Assetco. The Gilbert-backed company has also acquired stakes in Saracen Fund Managers, Parmenion and Rize ETF.
Gilbert joined the River and Mercantile board in January and his former Abrdn colleague Alex Hoctor-Duncan has followed suit.
See also: Assetco heralds ‘new approach to asset management’ with Rize ETF deal
