T. Rowe Price Buys F/m
T. Rowe Price acquires F/m Investments for an undisclosed sum.
T. Rowe Price, a Baltimore asset manager with about $1.9 trillion under management, agreed to acquire F/m Investments. The acquisition adds a fast-growing fixed-income ETF specialist to its lineup, with F/m managing about $19 billion in total.
F/m has more than $10 billion in 20 ETFs and the rest in separately managed accounts. This acquisition would more than double the assets T. Rowe holds in its own fixed-income ETFs.
F/m's Focus
F/m pioneered single-bond ETFs, giving investors more precise control over their exposure. Its flagship is the F/m US Treasury 3 Month Bill ETF, which at $7.2 billion accounts for more than 70% of F/m's ETF assets and charges 0.15% a year.
The firm has kept innovating, creating an ultrashort take on inflation-protected bonds and designing the F/m Compoundr U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF. This ETF rotates among broad bond ETFs to sidestep distributions, and therefore taxes, giving investors a way to hold bonds as a diversifier without generating yield.
What it Brings T. Rowe
For T. Rowe, the acquisition of F/m brings in a focused, methodical issuer whose products are clearly resonating with investors. The firm manages roughly $1.9 trillion in total, but ranks just 29th among US ETF providers.
The deal is the second acquisition of an ETF manager announced this month. Last week, Goldman Sachs agreed to buy NEOS Investments for up to $2.25 billion.
Comparison of ETFs
| ETF | Assets | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| F/m US Treasury 3 Month Bill ETF (TBIL) | $7.2 billion | 0.15% |
| iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| F/m Ultrashort Treasury Inflation-Protected Security ETF (RBIL) | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| F/m Compoundr U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (CPAG) | not disclosed | not disclosed |
The T. Rowe transaction is expected to close in early 2027. The acquisition is part of a wave of consolidation taking place across the $16.3 trillion U.S. ETF industry, as large asset managers buy their way into the fast growing industry. T. Rowe Price currently has 10 U.S.-listed fixed income ETFs with $6.5 billion in them, and 34 ETFs with almost $33 billion in AUM.
