GLG Partners

GLG Partners
Subsidiary
Industry Investment management
Founded 1995
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
AUM US$ 33.3 billion (June 2015)[1]
Number of employees
104 (2014)
Website GLGPartners.com

Man GLG (formerly GLG Partners) is a discretionary investment manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of British alternative investment manager Man Group plc. It is a diversified and multi-strategy fund manager that operates strategies including equity long-short funds, convertible arbitrage funds, emerging market funds and long-only mutual funds.[2] The firm is also a founding member of the Hedge Fund Standards Board and a signatory of the Principles for Responsible investment. As of June 2015, Man GLG had $33.3bn assets under management.

History

GLG was founded in 1995 by Noam Gottesman, Pierre LaGrange and Jonathan Green, as a unit of Lehman Brothers. The three founders met while working in Goldman Sachs' private client business in the 1980s.

GLG was spun off by Lehman in 2000 before going public in 2007 through a reverse merger with Freedom Acquisition Holdings. At the time of the merger, GLG Partners Inc was valued at £3.3 billion, the then-largest alternative investment manager in Europe.[3][4] In April 2009, GLG Partners acquired Société Générale Asset Management UK, adding $8.2bn in AUM and increasing GLG's exposure to the UK retail market.[5][6][7]

Man Group plc acquired GLG Partners in May 2010, paying $1.6 billion ($4.50 per share) in cash and new shares. The merger was the largest acquisition in hedge fund industry[8][9] The acquisition was finalised on 14 October 2010.

In 2015 Man GLG acquired Silvermine Capital Management, a US-based investment advisor, as well as NewSmith LLP, an equity investment manager. Man GLG reportedly paid an initial $23.5m for Silvermine; the acquisition was said by Hedgeweek to provide Man GLG with more expertise in US credit markets and expand the firm’s North American presence. The Telegraph noted that the NewSmith acquisition would extend Man GLG's presence in the Japanese market.[10][11][12]

In December 2013, Man GLG settled charges brought by the SEC after a failure of the firm's internal controls caused it to overvalue its stake in a coal mining company.[13][14] GLG did not admit or deny the charges.[15] In January 2014 the billionaire investor Richard Desmond sued GLG and Credit Suisse over losses stemming from investments that Desmond stated were "too complex to understand".[16] GLG denied advising Desmond on the transaction; the firm also argued that Desmond was in fact a sophisticated investor, having invested over $15m with GLG since 1998.[17] The case was settled out of court in 2015.[18]

Structure and operations

Man GLG is a multi-team discretionary investment manager, utilising absolute return and long-only strategies across asset classes, sectors and geographies. The firm has headquarters in London, with offices in New York, Hong Kong and Pfäffikon.

Man Group's 2014 trading statement reported that Man GLG had had a “mixed” year, but that the January 2015 acquisition of Silvermine would boost the division’s US CLO business.

Man Group acquired GLG Partners partly to diversify its business towards more institutional clients. In an interview with Pensions and Investments, Manny Roman (former co-CEO at GLG and Man Group) said: "When GLG was acquired by Man Group, there was a clear shift in strategy, under new leadership, in terms of what we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to do. We wanted the company to service institutional clients and be very much focused on that market".

References

  1. GLG Partners Website.
  2. Bloomberg: Man Group to Acquire GLG in $1.6 Billion Deal.
  3. Bloomberg: GLG Partners Going Public in the U.S. Through Merger.
  4. "Hedge fund GLG Partners Plans Reverse Merger With Freedom Acquisition Holdings (FRH)". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  5. "Man Group buys fellow hedge fund GLG Partners". BBC.co.uk. BBC. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. "GLG to acquire SocGen UK". InvestmentWeek.co.uk. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  7. Chris Marshall (19 December 2008). "SocGen to sell UK funds arm to GLG Partners". Citywire.co.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  8. Financial Times: All eyes on hedge fund world’s largest merger.
  9. Financial Times: Man agrees $1.6bn takeover of rival GLG.
  10. "History of GLG". GLGPartners.com. http://www.glgpartners.com/history-of-glg. External link in |publisher= (help);
  11. "Man Group acquires investment management business of NewSmith". Hedgeweek.co.uk. Hedgeweek. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  12. Andrew Trottman. "Man group Buys UK asset manager NewSmith". Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media group. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  13. "GLG Partners L.P. and GLG Partners, Inc. Agree to Pay Nearly $9 Million to Settle the SEC's Charges". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  14. "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Before the SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION" (PDF). SEC. SEC. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  15. Agnew, Harriet (12 December 2013). "GLG Partners Agrees to Pay $9 Million in SEC Settlement". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  16. Chellel, Kit (6 January 2014). "Man Group's GLG Sued Over 'Incomprehensible' Deal". Bloomberg. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  17. Armitstead, Louise (6 January 2014). "Richard Desmond is not a naive investor, says GLG". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  18. Gideon Spanner (18 December 2014). "Richard Desmond wins '£10m' from City giants over derivatives deal". Independent.co.uk. Independent. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

External links

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