MetLife snaps up three investment teams from Mesirow

MetLife Investment Management will acquire three investment teams and assets managed by Mesirow, shortly after it announced its acquisition of PineBridge Investments.

MetLife Investment Management will take on Mesirow's high yield and bank loan strategic fixed income, and small-cap equity teams - which manage about $6 billion of assets - as well as certain related investment products.

The acquired teams will consist of about 20 investment professionals - all of whom who are expected to join MetLife.

MetLife said the acquisition will advance the development of its leveraged finance platform as it adds opportunistic high yield and bank loan strategies with risk-return profiles that complement its offering, including those from its acquisition of PineBridge Investments.

MetLife Investment Management president Jude Driscoll said as fundamental, bottom-up investors, the investment teams are excellent strategic fits and bring seasoned talent to the company.

"By leveraging the power of the MetLife Investment Management platform, we believe we can accelerate growth in these strategies through investment performance and the breadth of our distribution capabilities," Driscoll said.

Mesirow chief executive officer Natalie Brown, meanwhile, said the firm is confident MetLife will deliver "scaled resources well suited to these three traditional investment strategies."

Brown added that going forward, Mesirow will continue to focus on growing its alternatives capabilities and core wealth management, fiduciary solutions, and capital markets/investment banking offerings - which have over $300 billion in total assets under supervision.