GAM managers push for Liontrust sale amid stock slide

Portfolio managers from the GAM Global Opportunities and Global Special Situations Funds person urged Liontrust Asset Management to motorboat a “strategic review” aimed astatine selling the business.

In an unfastened missive to John Ions, CEO of Liontrust, Albert Saporta and Randel Freeman argued that the institution is “significantly undervalued”, referencing an approximate 85% autumn successful its stock terms since September 2021.

During the aforesaid period, Liontrust’s assets nether absorption declined from £42.3bn ($56.5bn) to astir £22bn, resulting successful a marketplace valuation of conscionable 0.68% of its AUM.

The missive noted that Liontrust’s stock terms has dropped by much than 60% since its unsuccessful bid to get GAM successful the summertime of 2023.

As of 20 March 2026, the GAM Global Opportunities Fund and GAM Global Special Situations Fund unneurotic held 2,195,000 shares successful Liontrust Asset Management, amounting to astir 3.6% of the company's stock capital.

“Liontrust’s stock terms show is the worst amongst large UK money absorption companies during this period,” the missive noted.

Saporta and Freeman criticised the company’s leadership, stating it “failed to articulate a credible strategy for reversing this decline”.

The missive said: “You person tried respective things during your exceedingly agelong tenure astatine Liontrust to prop-up the stock price, and nary of it seems to beryllium working” adding that “like respective of the different initiatives you person been trying, smacks of ‘way excessively small excessively late’.”

The missive further noted compensation received by Ions since taking connected the CEO relation successful 2010, referencing full remuneration adjacent to £40m, including £17m implicit the past 5 years.

Against the backdrop of broader manufacture consolidation and caller deals involving assemblage peers, the portfolio managers wrote: “Liontrust should instantly commence a strategical review, with the nonsubjective of selling the institution to the highest bidder arsenic it is nary longer successful a presumption to enactment arsenic a superior consolidator” citing the “fragmented quality of the industry”

The missive concluded: “From predator, it is clip for the Lion to go prey, earlier spot is decidedly lost.”

They said the River Global acquisition, the archetypal successful 5 years, was “way excessively little, excessively late.”

The missive pointed to caller developments successful the sector, noting that events specified arsenic the acquisition enactment involving Schroders and the ongoing bids for Janus Henderson “should enactment arsenic a wake-up call.”

"GAM managers propulsion for Liontrust merchantability amid banal slide" was primitively created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.