BlueBay Asset Management, the London fixed-income specialist, is to be acquired by Royal Bank of Canada. BlueBay, founded in 2001 by Hugh Willis and Mark Poole, has about £24bn under management, mostly in specialist credit and fixed income funds. It is a well-regarded manager with good investment performance and a healthy business. Last month, it said profits jumped 183% to £50m in the 12 months to the end of June. But where does it fit with RBC?

RBC is paying £963m for the firm, which works out as 3.8% of BlueBay's assets under management. That is toward the high end of the prices funds companies have historically fetched. For institutional firms especially, a more normal ratio is about 2% to 3% of assets.