| Glyn Jones | ||||||
Gartmore is increasing its slant towards hedge funds with the acquisition of Riverview International Group in the US. Riverview is a specialist hedge fund of funds business in New Jersey. Gartmore has bought out 100% of the business but will not say for how much.
The acquisition follows on from Gartmore's increasing concentration on alternative investments since 1999 when it launched its first hedge fund, the AlphaGen Capella, under Roger Guy.
The AlphaGen umbrella now has seven funds with $2 billion in assets under management. This figure is still a small share of its overall assets of £53 billion but the Riverview acquisition shows where Gartmore sees its future. This is quite a reinvention from the mid to late 1990s when it put a lot of effort into passive management as its traditional institutional business struggled to produce strong returns.