An institutional global value manager sub-advising more than $1.5 billion in mutual fund assets is now 100 percent employee-owned. Earlier this month London- and Philadelphia-based Mondrian Investment Partners Limited's employees bought back the 27 percent of the firm still in the hands of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for an undisclosed sum, putting Mondrian completely in its employees' hands [see filing]. Mondrian boasted over $70 billion in assets under management as of June 30 and it has 169 employees.

Mondrian sub-advises seven Schwab [see profile] mutual funds: the $191.8-million, four-star Laudus Mondrian Emerging Markets Fund (LEMNX); the $5.1-million, three-star Laudus Mondrian Global Equity Fund (LGEVX); the $69.9-million, three-star Laudus Mondrian Institutional Emerging Markets Fund (LIEMX); the $17.2-million three-star Laudus Mondrian Institutional International Equity Fund (LIIEX); the $129.0-million, three-star Laudus Mondrian International Equity Fund (LIEIX); and the the $1.1-billion, four-star Laudus Mondrian International Fixed Income Fund (LIFNX). According to the filing, the funds' boards already approved an interim sub-advisory agreement with Mondrian to hold the funds over until the shareholders approve of a new sub-advisory agreement (a requirement, thanks to change in ownership).

MFWire.com could not reach Mondrian president Paul Ross or Hellman managing director Allen Thorpe for comment on the deal. A spokeswoman for Schwab declined to comment.

Mondrian, previously called Delaware International Advisers, launched in 1990 and freed itself from Delaware Investments (then part of Lincoln National) in 2004, with help from Hellman. The deal totaled $172 million at the time, plus some assumption of liabilities, and Hellman invested $125 million in Mondrian. Then in May 2011, Hellman reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for its stake in Mondrian. At the time, an anonymous investment banker told Financial News' Mike Foster that Mondrian could be worth about $1 billion.

Hellman is already making a name for itself in the asset management and wealth management world. The firm has also invested in Gartmore Investment Management, soon-to-IPO mutual fund firm Artisan Partners and freshly-IPOed independent broker-dealer giant LPL Financial. The firm has raised more than $25 billion since launching 27 years ago. 

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