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Jonathan Little Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

Asset managers who started in the 20 years before 2007 are more likely to have become established businesses than the ones who started after 2007. Now these older businesses are facing a new challenge, namely that of succession.

Jon Little, founder of Northill Capital, a provider of long-term private capital, talks to Opalesque about the current succession trends and challenges in an ageing asset management industry.

"The trend that we tap into is what we call the 'golden age' of asset management," he says. "The industry is almost aging in terms of the companies. Firms that were set up in the 20 years before 2007 are reaching a critical point where the founders are getting a little older, and age or other things are beginning to get them to a position where they have to think about succession of some sort; whether that means selling the business or trying to get the more junior people in the firm to take on more responsibility and begin handing over the baton."

These are fragile decisions, he adds; the asset manager has no fixed assets and the income is reflected in varying assets and returns. Those businesses that spread the capital very widely in the early days would be in a good position for succession later. But that is not often the case. Managers who started up 20 or 25 years were more focused on the getting the business started, and the analysts they hired were more interested......................

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