Victory Capital makes $8.6bn bid for Janus Henderson

Victory Capital has put in an $8.6bn (£6.4bn) bid to acquire asset manager Janus Henderson, overtaking a previous $7.4bn bid from Trian Fund Management.

Trian and a group of investors led by General Catalyst Group Management p reviously announced they had acquired Janus Henderson for $7.4bn in December 2025, but Victory Capital has urged Janus Henderson’s special committee to consider its “fully financed” rival bid.

Janus Henderson owns credit specialist Victory Park Capital and has its own collateralised loan obligation business. It launched the Janus Henderson AA-A CLO ETF earlier this month with $100m capital.

Under the terms of the bid, Janus Henderson shareholders would receive $57.04 per share, representing a 37 per cent premium to Janus Henderson’s unaffected share price as of October 24 2025 and an approximately 16 per cent premium to Janus Henderson’s deal with Trian.

Victory Capital called the deal “clearly superior” to Trian’s in the announcement of its bid.

In the announcement, it said: “A combination between Victory Capital and Janus Henderson would build on Victory Capital’s highly successful track record of acquiring and integrating investment firms into its platform, creating a global investment management business with exceptional diversification and distribution capabilities that is better positioned to compete at scale against the largest asset managers in the world.”

“We are confident that combining Victory Capital and Janus Henderson, two similarly sized, complementary organisations, would create a more competitive platform that would deliver superior value for shareholders, employees and clients alike,” added David C. Brown, chairman and chief executive of Victory Capital.

“Our proposal is fully financed and provides Janus Henderson shareholders with meaningful long‑term upside through ownership of a stronger, more competitive organisation.”