M&A transactions in asset management tend to be struck without much drama, especially when there is a chief executive on one side of the table who is a serial dealmaker.

When Liontrust made a £96m offer for Switzerland-based GAM in May last year, the tie-up was billed as one that would create a £50bn group. It was also touted as a way to pull GAM back from a cliff edge: there had been heavy outflows and its share price had plummeted, following a scandal involving star fund manager Tim Haywood and his links to collapsed supply chain finance group Greensill Capital.