The fate of Pioneer Investments [profile] is up in the air, again, thanks to big changes at its parent company.

Federico Ghizzoni UniCredit Chief Executive Officer

Reuters reports that, per four unnamed sources, Italian multinational bank UniCredit is putting the complicated Pioneer deal with Santander on hold thanks to an impending search for a new UniCredit CEO. Current UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni will leave once they find a successor. [See MFWire's living timeline of the Pioneer auction for more details and history.]

CityWire Selector also covered the Pioneer deal news.

A year ago UniCredit and Spanish multinational bank Banco Santander unveiled a deal to combine their global asset management businesses, with backing from private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic, and a few months later they signed a binding agreement. That deal would put the U.S. arm of Pioneer under a new Pioneer Investments holding company, with UniCredit owning 50 percent and the private equity firms splitting the rest. Meanwhile, for the non-U.S. UniCredit and Santander asset management businesses, the new holding company would own two-thirds and Santander would own a third.

Lisa Jones Pioneer Investments Head of the U.S., President, Chief Executive Officer

Now, one source tells Reuters, the Pioneer deal "is currently frozen" and whoever takes over at UniCredit "will review the deal." That source told the wire service that a "queue" of other buyers, besides Santander and Warburg and GA, had lined up for Pioneer. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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