In a deal valued at more than $247 million, asset manager
AMG will acquire 51% of Freiss for an initial cash payment of $247 million, according to a statement. In three years, AMG is expected to buy another 19% stake in the firm for a yet-to-be-determined amount. The deal, pending approval, is expected to close by the end of October.
The remaining 30% of Friess equity will be controlled by 11 members of that firms' staff, including founder Foster Friess and chief investment officer Bill D'Alonzo. Friess has said he will invest a substantial portion of proceeds from the sale in the Brandywine Funds, making him the largest shareholder in each fund that bares the Brandywine name.
Friess Associates was founded in 1974 and now has offices in Greenville, Del., Wyoming and Arizona. In addition to overseeing the Brandywine fund, the firm also advises two other growth equity funds as well as separate accounts for foundations, corporations and high-net-worth individual investors.
"I think the opportunity in separate accounts is substantial," said one official speaking at a press conference this morning with top AMG executives. Executives also said the firm's "highly disciplined and highly systematic" investment style attracted AMG to the deal, adding that the Friess Associates' 30-member investment teams exhaustive research is more effective than "traditional Wall Street" research methods.
The Friess deal comes nearly a month after AMG announced it will acquire 60% interest in Welch & Forbes of Boston, an investment manager with $4.2 million in assets under management. The terms of the Welch & Forbes deal were not disclosed, nor was the date at which the acquisition would close.
