Cantor Takeover to Shrink O’Connor Footprint in Europe, Asia
(Bloomberg) — Cantor Fitzgerald LP is shedding much of O’Connor’s presence outside of the US following its acquisition of the hedge fund from UBS Group AG, according to people familiar with the matter.
While O’Connor will continue to invest globally, the investment teams will be primarily based in the US with some individuals supporting them from other locations, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. As part of UBS, O’Connor had teams based in the US, Europe and Asia.
Staff that won’t be joining Cantor includes London-based Bernie Ahkong, who was the chief investment officer of the Global Multi-Strategy Alpha business, the people said.
Spokespeople for Cantor and UBS declined to comment, while Ahkong didn’t reply to a request for comment.
When the deal was first announced in May, O’Connor had about $11 billion of assets under management. That will fall to about $9.4 billion when the transfer of funds is completed in March.
Following the collapse of auto-parts supplier First Brands in September, Cantor sought to renegotiate the terms of the acquisition with UBS, given the exposure of two of its strategies to the company, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Under UBS, O’Connor ran six strategies: Global Multi-Strategy Alpha, Merger Arbitrage, Capital Solutions (Private Credit), Commodities, China Long/Short and Working Capital Solutions.
Cantor has agreed to buy all but two of them, the people familiar said. Working Capital Solutions, which managed about $600 million, is being wound down as a result of its exposure to First Brands. China Long-Short, which managed about $250 million, will also be liquidated, the people said.
The Global Multi-Strategy Alpha business also faces losses linked to First Brands, but its exposure was small relative to the strategy, the people said.
The Capital Solutions Strategy was transferred earlier this year but under different management as the co-heads of the strategy, Rodrigo Trelles and Baxter Wasson, opted not to accept jobs at Cantor, Bloomberg previously reported.
UBS booked a $29 million loss in the fourth quarter related to the sale of its O’Connor business to Cantor, the Swiss lender reported this week.
O’Connor will report to Global Head of Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management Bill Ferri, a UBS veteran and founding member of its O’Connor business.
–With assistance from Todd Gillespie and Noele Illien.
(Updates to add the business reporting line in last paragraph. A previous version corrected the size of the AUM being transferred to Cantor.)
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