By Stefania Spezzati and Iain Withers

LONDON (Reuters) -Tikehau Capital , a French fund with 49 billion euros ($51 billion) under management, said there could be a "commercial collaboration in the future" with Schroders after it acquired a 4% stake in the asset management firm.

The Paris-based firm, which mainly invests in private credit, disclosed its Schroders stake in regulatory filings last week, making it a top ten investor in the FTSE 100 money manager, according to LSEG data.

Schroders is one of Europe's largest investment firms, managing 773.7 billion pounds ($975 billion) of client funds. Like many rivals, the active investor has struggled to stem outflows as cheaper index-tracker products offered by the likes of U.S. giants BlackRock and Vanguard have gained traction.

The British company - which still counts its founding Schroder family as its biggest investor with about a 44% stake - is set to present a strategy update and earnings in early March, the first under new CEO Richard Oldfield.

"Schroders is probably one of the best remaining global brands ... there may be some commercial collaboration in the future," Tikehau co-founder Antoine Flamarion said during a call with investors on Thursday, without elaborating further.

Analysts at Citi said in a note on Monday prior to the comments that any partnership between the two firms could help Tikehau distribute its funds more widely, while Schroders could bulk up its direct lending offering.

A spokesperson for Schroders declined to comment.

Tikehau had bought about 55 million euros ($57 million) of Schroders shares as of December last year, it said on Thursday.

It has recently built relationships with other asset managers, including Tokyo-based Nikko AM to expand in Asia.

"The financial industry is changing very fast, we see a lot of value in the traditional asset management, and that's why we decided to do this financial investment," said Flamarion.

($1 = 0.9583 euros)

(Reporting by Stefania Spezzati and Iain Withers; editing by Giles Elgood and Elaine Hardcastle)