2014.06.1000:45:59UTC+00UK’s Man Group acquires Pine Grove for US investors

The United States, aside from boasting the world’s largest economy, has been getting attention as well from hedge fund managers in Europe looking to expand their client base including the UK based Man Group PLC. The decision for the purchase of Pine Grove Asset Management LLC, a US fund of funds company, by Man Group was motivated by the goal of capitalizing on an ongoing global thread where a huge chunk of hedge fund flows are coming from pension funds, endowments, and other US institutional investments.

The New York based Pine Group was a target because of their specialty in credit hedge funds, their $1 billion in assets, and, most importantly, their ability to give added exposure in the country for Man Group. Prior to the acquisition, only 10% of Man Group clients were from the US amounting to $1.4 billion in sales from their total of $16.1 billion, whereas 90% of Pine Group assets were from US investments. The deal is expected to be finalized in the coming third quarter.

The sale is part of Man Group’s strategy that has come to light to be based around penetration of the market through acquisitions for a more immediate gain. It had earlier bid for another US based firm, Numeric Holdings LLC.

Man Group boasts $55 billion of managed assets  and is currently on a three quarter streak of client inflows after years of experiencing the opposite. Shares of the company was up 1% following the announcement of the sale.

Officials of Pine Grove including President Matthew Stadtmauer and Chief Investment Officer Tom Williams will be part of Man Group’s FRM unit.