Founders of UK-Listed Hedge Fund Sell Stake

Stephen Harris

23 June 2005

The two founders of RAB Capital, Michael Alen-Buckley and Philip Richards, have sold a 14 per cent of their listed hedge fund group to a collection of institutions and wealthy individuals, including the Mittal family, for approaching £29 million ($52.2 million). Sofina, the finance arm of Solvay, the Belgian chemical group now has more than 5 per cent of the hedge fund manager and a Mittals family trust has more than 4 per cent. Two other family offices and institutions took the rest of the shares, which were double last year’s float price. Mr Richards and Mr Alen-Buckley retain 62 per cent of the company. RAB has $2 billion in hedge fund assets under management and the latest disposal values it at £200 million. RAB has recently announced that it is buying Cross Asset Management, another London-based event-driven hedge fund, for £9.5 million in cash and shares.