Team Liftouts, M&A, and Strategic Partnerships
We pioneered executive search 50+ years ago, and in 1993 the firm morphed into a liftout specialist, for investment and distribution/HNW teams. As such, our sole focus for the last 27 years has been on team liftouts and small acquisitions in the investment management industry. Overall, we completed over 70 transactions, along with track record and assets, with each of the groups still with the firms we placed them with.
Moving a group of people to a new firm is NOT a liftout, a concept often misunderstood in the industry. We define a liftout as bringing you a top decile team along with an immediately marketable track record and portable institutional assets. A liftout is profitable immediately and acts a pied piper for other asset classes and products, hiring multiple individuals is not. The teams we bring are never looking in the marketplace, as they are top performers and in most cases have worked together for over a decade.
As firms before and since the crisis are rethinking their strategic objectives around where they would like to grow and also where they are not competitive, more of our clients are looking to partner with others, sub-advise where appropriate or completely sell business lines to firms where the infrastructure and brand is already in place in specific instances.
During the quarantine, we helped one of our large global clients find a partner to restructure a significant part of their business, while simultaneously creating sub-advisory and joint new product development initiatives for the long-term (see press release below for details).
Robert Warren pioneered the liftout business in the early nineties and Institutional Investor Magazine ten years later labeled him the “liftout king”. Daniel Enskat has written a dozen books on the asset management industry and leads our proprietary quantitative and qualitative research efforts. The combination of data and research along with our global network and extreme confidentiality is key to each assignment.
Whether it is:
- searching for a new C-level investment or management position
- lifting out a top performing investment or distribution team
- acquiring assets or a boutique firm, or
- finding a strategic partner to restructure businesses and grow assets
Warren Enskat has been doing it, quietly, for over five decades.
"A liftout is a complex process which requires us to work with, consult and at times guide your legal, operational, compliance and HR staff to ensure a smooth process and successful business from day one."
Robert Warren
February 01, 2021
Virtus Investment Partners Finalizes Strategic Partnership With Allianz Global Investors
Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. announces the completion of the actions necessary to finalize its previously announced strategic partnership with Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), and has received fund shareholder or client approvals to become the investment adviser, distributor and/or administrator of $29.3 billion in assets under management and to provide services to an additional $3.6 billion of other fee-earning assets.
July 07, 2020
AllianzGI and Virtus Investment Partners Announce Strategic Partnership in U.S. Retail Market
Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), a leading global active asset manager, and Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., which operates a multi-boutique asset management business, announce a strategic partnership that will focus on enhancing both firms’ growth opportunities with Virtus representing AllianzGI’s compelling investment strategies in the U.S. retail market to existing and potentially new clients.
A true liftout is profitable within the first six months.
We have facilitated over 70 team liftouts and investment boutique acquisitions in the last two decades, with each team still with the firms we placed them with. We have clients in all continents and across all business models, including long only and alternatives.
Contact Us
Business continuity and cultural fit are the most important factors for our work. Warren Enskat will work with you to create a systematic process and structure to find those top decile performing investment teams. We have the ability to look for multiple teams at the same time and integrate them seamlessly into the cultural fabric of the organization, along with key distribution talent, portable track records and asset trails to ensure profitability from day one along with AUM growth.
For more information call (212) 752-7025 or complete the form below.
Warren Enskat AILO Database
Contact us to learn how you can access the largest global, proprietary database on investment, distribution and artificial intelligence leaders.