Sometimes M&A is all about finding the right people who let you be yourself.

Gene Needles American Beacon CEO

This was a driving reason behind why employees of Atlanta-based money manager Shapiro Capital sold a majority stake to American Beacon's parent last month.

"At the end, it comes down to people," Louis Shapiro, president and chief financial officer of Shapiro Capital, tells MFWire. "We believe in their structure of allowing us to remain completely autonomous and letting us run our business as we have for 27 years."

It is also a good cultural fit since both firms put clients first, he adds.

American Beacon CEO Gene Needles told MFWire earlier this month that Shapiro Capital was a "long standing fundamental manager" with "managers having longstanding relationships with their clients."

For almost a year, the Shapiro team had been looking at various options for a succession plan. This deal was born out of that search, Louis Shapiro says.

"We never truly had any distribution before, so now we can focus on making money for our clients while leveraging the distribution of American Beacon as we continue to grow the firm at a moderate rate," he adds.

Shapiro Capital manages around $4.3 billion in assets with a team of four investment professionals.

 

Edited by: Tanvi Acharya


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