The board of River and Mercantile Group has agreed to an extension to the date by which AssetCo and Premier Miton are required either to announce a "firm intention" to make an offer of acquisition or whether it does not intend to continue.
The firms, which entered a bidding war recently, have been given until 5pm on 18 January to make their intentions over acquiring River and Mercantile clear, with the possibility of a further extension thereafter.
The AssetCo board, chaired by Martin Gilbert, continues to believe that both firms are "highly complementary" and that a combination of AssetCo and RMG Asset Management would create "significant" value for the combined group's clients, portfolio managers, employees and shareholders.
Martin Gilbert's AssetCo doubles stake in River & Mercantile
Campbell Fleming (pictured), chief executive officer at AssetCo, said: "We note that the Board of River and Mercantile Group has agreed to an extension of the offer period. This should allow sufficient time to finalise a potential offer to acquire River and Mercantile (excluding its Solutions business) for the benefit of both AssetCo and River and Mercantile shareholders.
"River and Mercantile has great potential as an active equity and infrastructure investment manager with people, clients and product offering that would complement our existing businesses.
"It will also accelerate, and be a core part of our focus on, building an agile 21st century asset and wealth management business that meets the needs of investors."
A spokesperson for River and Mercantile said discussions "remain ongoing".
