Schroders Exit Makes the City of London Even More Like Wimbledon

It could have been so much worse. Schroders Plc could have drifted into irrelevance. Or it could have been squished in a takeover with savage job cuts. Instead, the historic British asset manager has agreed to be bought for £9.9 billion ($13.5 billion) by US peer Nuveen, securing its future inside a buyer with which there is little serious overlap. The bald truth remains, however: Another of the City of London’s defining names has chosen to surrender independence rather than soldier on.

Schroders has been scrambling to adjust to the twin threats facing active asset managers: competition from low-fee passive funds and alternative-investment managers touting high performance from their private-market businesses. The stock price more than halved between September 2021 and April last year.