Gartmore Grp Share Discussion Threads

[frizsand] 24/9/2010 07:30

Gartmore's Bennett backs his revamped European Focus fund

[hvs] 17/9/2010 17:12

Have the CITY BOYS realised ramping IS NOT GOING TO WORK ?

[hvs] 14/9/2010 13:31

And swallow other peoples MONEY.

[diku] 13/9/2010 22:03

They want to pat themselves on their back!...

[hvs] 13/9/2010 12:44

lol !!!!

lol !!!!!

The CITY BOYS really know how to do it.

He said by increasing advertising, marketing, event and public relations spend, the group should "restate its positives", which he highlighted as "talented managers and good performance".


No DIVI for shareholders and a lot of advertising. Does "NEW" STAR come to mind ?

[frizsand] 13/9/2010 11:36

Gartmore invests to rebuild brand image

[hvs] 13/9/2010 08:42

City rumour mill in OVERDRIVE.

Must be the day job in THE CITY.

[envirovision] 13/9/2010 08:39

no press then

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 19:55

Numis - 3/9/10:

Possible bid target - we do not see a bid as highly likely, although we believe the prospect of a bid cannot be ignored at the current share price range (we do not see enough natural fit with most of the logical potential bidders, but we estimate worth 140-205p to a serious acquirer).

As we cannot rule out the possibility of a bid, we believe shorting the stock would be a risky strategy at the current price.

Hold - Target = 113p.

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 15:14

Just looked at JUP, nice chart.

[envirovision] 10/9/2010 15:06

i've gone for 5829, stop 1.12 with all the spare cash i have right now, hoping for GRT to be tipped as a takeover in the weekend press.

JUP i just dont know where its going to stop, crazy.

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 15:02

Enviro,

I've gone for 10,000 as a takeover trade. Stop 105p. Looks a high probability turn. Will look at JUP.

[envirovision] 10/9/2010 15:00

Look at JUP in comparision Simon.

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 14:54

Citywire - 11/8/10:

Henderson not the only potential bidder

Henderson is by no means the only potential bidder. Schroders is sitting on around £800 million in cash and other retail houses may be tempted by the firms hedge fund expertise.

Gartmore, which has been a leader in bringing hedge fund strategies into the retail space through Ucits funds, has around £22 billion in assets.

Gartmore shareholders

However, any prospective bidders for Gartmore will have two main obstacles if they harbour any hopes of getting the asset manager on the cheap.

First of all, with the IPO so fresh in investor memory, there will need to pay a significant premium for shareholders to sell at such depressed levels.

But perhaps more importantly, there would be a lot of pressure to pay close to the IPO price becuase a large number of shareholders are staff. Fund managers Roger Guy and Rambourg own 5.40% and 3.74%, respectively, while chief executive Jeff Meyer now owns 1.26%.

Likewise, Gartmore's private equity backers Hellman & Friedman, who are still the biggest shareholders in the business, are unlikely to allow their assets to be sold on the cheap after taking the company private for £550 million in 2006.

So anyone thinking they can get their hands on Gartmore on the cheap should think again.

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 13:17

Could be taken out for 160p to 170p. It's in everyone's interest to do a deal, the quicker the better.

[liyangnano] 10/9/2010 13:12

Re: simon gordon
so what do you think about the price of GRT?

[simon gordon] 10/9/2010 11:58

Anthony Hilton - 10/9/10:

Although it could never count as a scientific sample, I have asked every fund manager I have met over the past two weeks whether they think Gartmore will pull through and survive as an independent company.

They are its competitors, so you should not expect charity. Nevertheless, it is surely significant that not one of them thought it could.

There are a couple of big reasons why. The first is the role of consultants - those unaccountable but incredibly powerful figures on whom pension funds lean for advice - not because the advice is any good (typically it is to buy at the top and to sell at the bottom) but because it gives the pension trustees someone to blame and a defence in court if things go pear-shaped.

The typical reaction of consultants when they see a fund manager lose staff is not only to stop recommending further investment in its funds, but also actively to suggest that those who are invested should pull their money out. Consultants normally earn fees when clients move money from one fund manager to another, so they have little incentive to give Gartmore the benefit of the doubt, or to wait and see what happens next - quite the opposite in fact. That curious noise offstage is them rubbing their hands in anticipation.

The other challenge is the Financial Services Authority. It got a nasty shock last year when New Star almost collapsed at its feet after it too had been savaged by a run on its funds.

Part of New Star's weakness was that it had taken on a massive amount of bank debt as part of a scheme by which its founders could partially sell out - debt which it could no longer afford to service.

The regulator responded by putting pressure on other highly geared fund managers to get more equity capital. That is possibly one reason why Gartmore last year and Jupiter this year - both having previously been controlled by private-equity houses and carrying a lot of debt - each felt they had to go public to raise new equity, even though the timing was not really ideal for either of them to come to market.

Given what it has gone through in recent times, the last thing the FSA wants now is for a fund management firm to be floundering in public as is Gartmore.

But that said, it does not really have the powers to intervene - or at least, none which would not make the situation worse if it became known they had been exercised.

What the watchdog can do, however, with a mixture of threats and cajoling, is to press Gartmore to stabilise things sooner rather than later. And the only way that can be done in a hurry is to arrange for the firm to be taken over.

The minor complication, of course, is that Gartmore does not want to be taken over at the current fire-sale price. But it is debatable how much choice its board now has.

There are probably quite a lot of rivals who would be interested in theory, because the company still has a fair wedge of money under management. The problem is that much of Gartmore's credibility is based on Roger Guy, the No 1 star who runs a stable of hedge funds within the company.

Success or failure in the acquisition of fund management companies comes down to fund retention - how much of the money sticks with the new owner. So anyone buying the business would have to work out some way to keep Guy on board - or get the company so cheaply it would not matter.

The other problem is that there are already two big shareholders - the original private-equity owners and Henderson, a rival fund management group - which makes it difficult to build up a stake as a springboard for a bid.

Absent a hedge fund manager coming along with an off-the-wall deal which appeals to Guy, that means the most likely outcome would surely be a takeover of Gartmore by Henderson. The latter got the bargain of the year when it bought New Star off the banks. The temptation to repeat the trick must be very strong.

I very much doubt that we will have long to wait.

[hvs] 06/9/2010 08:14

More dilution or will these STAR Investment Managers be made to pay for these freebies which are off course on top of INFLATED SALARIES.

The share award has been made to a mixture of portfolio managers and senior management at the company and will mature over a number of years. At Friday's closing price it was worth £13.5m.




makes you laugh if its was funny.

[frizsand] 06/9/2010 08:00

Gartmore hands equity to top staff

[hvs] 02/9/2010 15:46

lol !!!!

lol !!!!

least one senior investment figure to Gervais Williams leaving Gartmore...

Think the guy should stick to producing a return to investors rather than commenting on others.

[frizsand] 02/9/2010 14:13

PA ANALYSIS: Gartmore no worse off with Williams' departure

...It is not often that a fund manager leaves an investment firm and the reaction is "it is possibly no great loss" but that was a reaction from at least one senior investment figure to Gervais Williams leaving Gartmore...

[frizsand] 01/9/2010 16:30

...the news is perhaps countered by one of the small caps fund managers resigning. (Gervais Williams)

[edwardt] 01/9/2010 14:27

interesting to read that neptune and martin currie might be interested in the private equity stake and or a takover. I am suprise the shares have not moved more in a strong market.

[frizsand] 01/9/2010 09:15

Citywire columnist Kyprianou joins Gartmore board

[edwardt] 20/8/2010 09:16

£1.40 then exit. The net debt level will hold this back eventually but at its current discount valuation to peers there is scope for a reasonable relief rally.