Quantcast
The MFWire
Manage Email Alerts | Sponsorships | About MFWire | Who We Are

Subscribe to MFWire.com's News Alerts [click]

Rating:Hennessy's Minnow Buys a $28.75MM Trout Not Rated 0.0 Email Routing List Email & Route  Print Print
Thursday, June 7, 2012

Hennessy's Minnow Buys a $28.75MM Trout

Reported by Neil Anderson, Managing Editor

Yesterday's purchase of FBR & Co's [profile] mutual fund business by Hennessy Funds [profile] could be likened to a smaller fish eating a biger fish.

While executives at neither firm are granting interviews, an FBR press release revealed the price tag on the deal. Hennessy appears to be paying about $28.75 million up front to gain control of $1.9 billion of mutual fund AUM from FBR.

That price works out to 1.51 percent of AUM.

The deal will also triple the size of Neil Hennessy's mutual fund shop. When it closes in the third quarter, Hennessy will have $2.7 billion of AUM.

FBR executives revealed the pricing when they extended a $12 million stock buyback through June 13. The bulk of FBR's business is investment banking.

Hennessy, which is publicly traded (albeit infrequently) under the ticker HNNA, has not filed any disclosures related to the deal as of Thursday afternoon.

The Novato, California-based fund firm has 5.76 million shares outstanding (and float of three million), giving it a market cap of $14.34 million based on today's price of $2.49. Trading volume of HNNA is normally low and as of 2:30 pm today only 500 shares of Hennessy had traded. The price up was up six percent.

With Hennessy's market cap at about half of the upfront price for FBR Funds, where is Hennessy getting the money? That has not been disclosed.

It's not clear what the deal means for Russell Parker, FBR's chief marketing and distribution officer. He joined FBR five years ago after holding top distribution jobs at Janus, Nuveen and a Natixis shop.

Meanwhile, the deal will mark a change of client for David Rainey, Brian Macauley and Ira Rothberg. The trio of analysts will continue to manage FBR's flagship mutual fund, the four-star, $724.7-million FBR Focus Fund.

Until September 2009, that mutual fund had been PMed by star PM Chuck Akre and sub-advised by Akre's eponymous shop. After Akre left and started his own mutual fund, FBR hired Akre's analyst team -- Macauley, Rainey and Rothberg -- to PM the Focus Fund in Akre's stead.

Hennessy will collapse FBR Small Cap, FBR Mid Cap and FBR Large Cap into Hennessy Cornerstone Growth, Hennessy Focus 30 and Hennessy Cornerstone Large Growth. FBR president and chief investment officer Dave Ellison and PM Winso Aylesworth will join Hennessy and continue to PM FBR Gas Utility Index, FBR Small Cap Financial, FBR Large Cap Financial and FBR Technology. And Hennessy will keep Financial Counselors and London Company sub-advising FBR Balanced and Financial Counselors sub-advising FBR Core Bond.

Hennessy also plans to bring on board "members of the FBR distribution, marketing, trading, compliance and trading departments."  

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE

0.0
 Do You Recommend This Story?



GO TO: MFWire
Return to Top
 News Archives
2025: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2024: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2023: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2022: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2021: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2020: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2019: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2018: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2017: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2016: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2015: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2014: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2013: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2012: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2011: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2010: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2009: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2008: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2007: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2006: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2005: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2004: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2003: Q4Q3Q2Q1
2002: Q4Q3Q2Q1
 Subscribe via RSS:
Raw XML
Add to My Yahoo!
follow us in feedly


  1. MFDF webinar - The Audit Committee Chair's Guide to Balancing Duties and Emerging Issues, September 3
  2. IDC webinar - A Primer on Digital Assets, Tokenization, and Distributed Ledger Technology, September 3
  3. WE U.S. - Women in Finance brunch at Dallas Securities Traders Association conference, September 4
  4. FutureProof Festival, Sep 7-10
  5. WE SoCal - Welcome Mixer at FutureProof, September 8
  6. WE US - ICI conference luncheon, September 8
  7. ICI ETF Conference, Sep 8-10
  8. WE Chicago - Unstoppable: A Journey of Resilience and Redefining Limits, September 9
  9. Nicsa webinar - Reimagining Reconciliation: AI, Regulation, and Capital Markets Transformation, September 10
  10. MFDF webinar - Series Trust Funds - Compliance and Board Reporting, September 10
  11. MFDF In Focus - Board Oversight of DEI in Current Landscape, September 11
  12. WE San Francisco - Annual Networking Event, September 11
  13. 2025 MMI Institutional Forum, September 11
  14. IDC webinar - Distribution for Fund Directors: Evolution and Trends, September 15
  15. IMEA Content Management Roundtable, September 16
  16. IMEA 2025 Star Awards Celebration, September 16
  17. IMEA Marketing Summit, Sep 16-17
  18. MFDF webinar - MFDF 15(c) White Paper Webinar Series: Part 4 – Enforcement Action Takeaways, September 16
  19. MFDF webinar - Latest in Closed-End Funds Litigations, September 23
  20. WE PNW - Mentorship Program Virtual Session: Building Trust to Win New Business and Influence Others, September 23
  21. Nicsa webinar - Utilizing AI to Enhance Distribution & Advisor Engagement, September 24
  22. IMEA Portfolio Construction Roundtable, September 24
  23. MFDF webinar - Fixed Income Insights: Navigating Market Trends & Opportunities, September 24
  24. IMEA Models Roundtable, September 25
  25. Expect Miracles Atlantic Coast Classic 2025, September 29
  26. MFDF webinar - Risk Management Essentials for RICs and Boards, September 29




©All rights reserved to InvestmentWires, Inc. 1997-2025
14 Wall Street | 20th Floor | New York, NY 10005 | P: 212-331-8968 | F: 212-331-8998
Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use