The entrepreneur leading a fast-growing asset management startup is sharing the wealth with a first round of colleagues. Meanwhile, watch for the firm's distribution to expand in two key areas.

Rajiv Jain GQG Partners Co-Founder, Chairman, Chief Investment Officer

Last week Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based GQG Partners [profile] co-founders Tim Carver and Rajiv Jain revealed their first tranche of fellow employee partners at the two-year-old firm. The seven new partners are: Scott Blankenship, managing director, head of intermediary sales; Steve Ford, managing director of business development; Brian Kersmanc, analyst; Greg Lyons, general counsel; Rob Mathai, head of institutional services; Sudarshan Murthy, analyst; and Melodie Zakaluk, chief operating officer.

Jain, chairman and chief investment officer of GQG, once owned 95 percent of the company, but now he is one of nine employee partners (alongside Carver and the seven new partners). Outside shareholder Pacific Current Group retains a 5 percent stake.

"Rajiv continues to be the largest shareholder by far," says Carver, CEO of GQG. "He'll always retain control."

Yet expect GQG to add more employee partners over time, partners who are committed to the firm's customers and to the team itself.

"In order to be eligible to be a partner at GQG, we want people to be on the team for a couple of years," Carver tells MFWire.

"It has always been my vision that we would have broad ownership among our team," Jain states. "At the same time, I believe that equity should be issued to colleagues whose commitment and talent help us build something distinctive in the market — to people whose vision reaches beyond today, who are committed to building a truly enduring institution."

Since launching in 2016, GQG has grown to 45 employees and $14.5 billion in AUM. Most of that growth has been in the institutional channel, but the mutual fund business has been strong, too, and Carver wants to boost that.

"We're still probably 85 percent institutional, so we're increasingly focusing on how we can expand our mutual fund presence," Carver says.

He adds that they're trying to expand their clientele geographically, too, so watch for the GQG team to boost their international presence in the coming years, too. 

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