MarketWatch – Gartmore Investment Management, a $45 billion asset manager, agreed on Thursday to be acquired in a management buyout backed by private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC, in a move designed to help expand its hedge-fund business.<\/p>\n
The value of the transaction wasn’t disclosed, but media reports have estimated a purchase price of 500 million to 600 million pounds, or roughly $1 billion. It’s expected to close in July. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The deal is the largest management buyout of a fund company in history, based on assets under management, according to Putnam Lovell NBF Securities, an investment bank focused on the financial-services industry. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Gartmore’s hedge-fund business has grown strongly in recent years, partly thanks to the success of AlphaGen Capella, one of the largest single-manager hedge funds in Europe, which is run by Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, the current owner of Gartmore, put the business up for sale, there was concern that Guy and other top hedge-fund managers might leave if they weren’t offered attractive roles in the future of the firm. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n