TRANSACTION SUMMARY

On 10 October 2019, Merian Global Investors (“Merian”) announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire the Kestrel Investment Partners’ (“Kestrel”) multi-asset business. As part of the deal, which is expected to complete in December 2019 (subject to regulatory and shareholder approval), the entire Kestrel multi-asset team will join Merian, including lead fund manager John Ricciardi, who has over three decades of multi-asset investing experience, including six years as global head of asset allocation for Alliance Bernstein.

Management of the Kestrel Global Portfolio will transfer to Merian as part of the transaction, as will the associated intellectual property. The fund aims to achieve capital growth by directly investing in a diversified portfolio of asset classes across global markets, using a repeatable process of quantitative macro modelling, combined with fund manager expertise. The Kestrel Global Portfolio has delivered a compound annual return of 6.2%, compared to 2.4% for the peer index since inception in April 2012.

The acquisition is Merian’s first deal since it completed a management buyout in June 2018. The deal is aligned with Merian’s strategy to grow and diversify its investment capabilities. In addition to growing its existing fund, the new multi-asset team will be launching a long/short strategy in early 2020, subject to regulatory approval.

ROLE

SHP acted as financial adviser to Kestrel Partners.