Ms Nicola Horlick's newly launched asset management firm Bramdean has made an approach to buy Deutsche Bank's British fund management arm, a source familiar with the situation said today.
Ms Horlick - who became one of Britain's best known fund managers partly because of a public falling out with Deutsche when she worked for the German bank in the 1990s - has asked for information on the terms of the sale, the source said.
"Bramdean is keen to grow critical mass and Deutsche is one of the more interesting businesses to have come up for sale," the source said.
"Clearly Horlick has some past knowledge of it, so it is not surprising she is having a look." A spokeswoman for Bramdean said the firm would not comment on the matter, adding: "Bramdean will always look at interesting opportunities."
Ms Horlick stepped down last year as chief executive of Société Générale's British asset management business. She took SG Asset Management from launch to its five-year target of £5 billion of assets under management in just two-and-a-half years.
Analysts have speculated for some time that Deutsche is likely to sell its UK asset management business, which has been leaking funds from institutional clients for several quarters.
Analysts have said the expected selling price for such a business would be around 1 per cent of the assets under management, or €785 million.
