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From Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London

News of the agreed purchase of troubled UK fund manager Gartmore by Henderson met with a positive response from the London market with the companies’ shares both rising by over 10%. Henderson will pay £335m (US$ 527m) for Gartmore, creating a fund management firm with joint assets of £78.1bn (US$ 123bn).

Commenting on the news, Ravi Anand, managing partner at Katalyst Partners, specialist corporate financiers in the asset management industry, told Opalesque: “This is a big story in the asset management space and given their respective hedge fund businesses, it’s a big story for hedge funds.”

Gartmore’s strength in the hedge fund industry was severely hit by the loss of star manager Roger Guy in November, who managed 16% of Gartmore’s £21bn (US$ 33bn) assets.

“The fact is that Gartmore’s hedge fund assets have diminished significantly because of the loss of Roger Guy, so it will be interesting to see how they are going to rebuild their hedge fund business” said Anand. He also point out that Henderson has a strong distribution network and now has more product which will aid the growth of their Ucits business. “The businesses are very complementary” he said.

Anand also believes that the ultimate winner in the deal is Roger Guy. “He will probably start his own business and attract a lot of money” he said. “Investors are waiting for him to start.”

Ironically, Henderson was one of the larger institutional i......................

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