The race is on to become a member of the $5tn assets under management ‘club’.

We’ve recently seen Franklin Templeton buy Legg Mason, a marriage between the product of a past mega-merger and a failing merger junkie, and now there is speculation regarding Invesco and Janus Henderson, who are themselves no strangers to dubious combinations. Undoubtedly amongst the literally thousands of products these firms have, there are some that are genuinely world class. It’s just that there really can’t be that many — or at least not enough that add significant value. A large part of what they do is done better elsewhere.