Fortis Investment has acquired a 70 percent stake in the fund of funds firm Cadogan Management, which will allow the two to combine their funds of funds operations and create the management company Cadogan.
Cadogan will start with $3.7 billion in assets and will be run by the new firms executive team and shareholders: Stuart Leaf, chief executive; Paul Isaac, chief investment officer and Michael Waldron, research director. A group of Fortis analysts based in London will also join Cadogan and report to Waldron.
The two operations complement each other because the companies invest in different managers and have a different customer bases, says Will Braman, US chief executive of Fortis. Also, Fortis has a large client focus in Europe and Cadogan’s presence is larger in the US.
The involvement of Fortis will allow Cadogan to enhance its performance, innovation and service for clients, says Leaf.
“It also provides us with direct access to a significant and focused distribution network for our products in a fast-growing international marketplace,” adds Leaf.
“We see very strong global investor demand for fund of hedge funds products across our client base going forward,” says Richard Wohanka, global chief executive of Fortis Investments. “Through the Cadogan team, we have strengthened our capability in alternatives and have broadened our product offering with a range of institutional quality funds.”