Mike Clark, CEO of hedge fund administrator Butterfield Fulcrum Group (BFG), has vehemently denied reports that Carlyle Group is buying the administrator from 3i the venture capital firm that has retained a controlling stake of BFG since the 2008 merger of Butterfield Fund Services and Fulcrum Group.
Christopher Ullman, director of global communications for Carlyle Group, told Global Custodian: This rumor is false.
HFMWeek reported yesterday that 3i is accepting offers for its stake of BFG, and has garnered interest from four US-based firms, including listed hedge fund administrator SS&C, though it claimed Carlyle Group had emerged as the expected buyer of the stake.
It is not yet clear if 3i is indeed selling its share of the administrator. I regret that it is always our policy to decline comment on market speculation about our portfolio holdings, and I am therefore unable to respond directly to your questions, Isabel Unsworth, interim PR manager of 3i, told Global Custodian in an e-mail.
SS&C did not immediately respond when asked if it knew whether or not the 3i stake was for sale, or if it had an interest in buying the administrator.
Clark, former head of J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services, replaced former BFG CEO Akshaya Bhargava in July last year.