AllianceBernstein to Buy Visium Asset Management Fund
June 17 2016 - 11:20AM
Dow Jones News
A hedge-fund firm at the center of a new insider trading case
has reached a deal to sell one of its funds to money manager
AllianceBernstein LP, according to people familiar with the
matter.
The firm, Visium Asset Management LP, agreed to sell its Visium
Global Fund and transfer that fund's management staff, these people
said. The deal doesn't include Visium's flagship Balanced Fund,
these people said.
U.S. prosecutors alleged earlier this week that a current and a
former Visium portfolio manager traded on confidential government
information about generic-drug approvals. They allegedly received
the tips from a former Food and Drug Administration official. One
of the managers pleaded not guilty while the other pleaded guilty
to securities and wire-fraud charges.
Visium founder Jacob Gottlieb, a physician by training, is
unlikely to join AllianceBernstein as part of the deal, the people
said.
The agreement could be announced as soon as Friday, the people
said, though it could still fall apart.
The terms of the deal aren't known. The price is partially
contingent on the total sum of assets that are transferred to
AllianceBernstein, the people said.
Visium has received a wave of redemption requests following a
period of underperformance and the investigation into alleged
insider trading by current and former employees. Its main fund is
down 9% this year through mid-June, according to an investor update
reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The fund AllianceBernstein agreed to buy was down 2.51% through
mid-June, according to the investor update.
AllianceBernstein views the transaction as a way to add
investment staff and hedge-fund muscle to its alternative
investment business, people familiar with the matter said.
The New York money manager currently manages about $20 billion
in alternative investments, including private credit and
hedge-funds, real estate, and so-called "liquid-alternatives" that
package hedge-fund like strategies in mutual funds. It has done
several small deals in recent years to build that portion of its
business.
Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com and Rob Copeland
at rob.copeland@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 17, 2016 12:05 ET (16:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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