Geneva, July 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investor group NewGAMe and Bruellan welcomes support from GAM’s third-largest investor and publishes its response to Liontrust’s open letter to GAM shareholders
Geneva, 17 July 2023 – The investor group comprised of NewGAMe SA and Bruellan SA, which controls approximately 9.5% of the issued share capital of GAM Holding AG (GAM), has published a detailed response to an open letter sent by Liontrust’s CEO John Ions to GAM shareholders on 14 July. The investor group also welcomes the news that GEM, a New York-based alternatives manager that owns 6.5% of GAM, will not be accepting the Liontrust offer.
In his response, Albert Saporta, director of NewGAMe, provides a line-by-line rebuttal to Liontrust’s letter. The letter can be found here:
https://newgam.ch/assets/downloads/Letter_to_GAM_shareholders_17_July.pdf
Antoine Spillmann, CEO and Executive Partner at Bruellan and the investor group's proposed candidate for chairman of GAM's board, said:
"As GAM’s second-largest shareholder, we believe Liontrust’s offer significantly undervalues GAM and are delighted that the company’s third largest investor agrees with us. We have a clear plan to return GAM to profitability and growth over the next two years – this provides shareholders with a viable alternative to the Liontrust offer and we encourage shareholders to read NewGAMe’s investment thesis and our detailed response to Liontrust’s open letter.”
On 6 July, NewGAMe published its investment thesis outlining a four-stage turnaround plan with the objective of value of creation of 3x-5x over the next two to three years. The investment thesis gave several reasons why shareholders should not accept the Liontrust offer, including:
- A lop-sided deal structure under which GAM shareholders will own only 14.5% of the combined entity while contributing 40% of the AuM
- Terms that undervalue GAM despite the deal being immediately accretive to Liontrust, with GAM’s EBIT margins expected to reach 30% by 2025
- Liontrust’s track record as one of the worst-performing stocks in the fund management sector over the past 12-24 months
- Liontrust’s track record of value-destructive M&A
NewGAMe’s investment thesis can be found here: https://newgam.ch/assets/downloads/NewGAMe_investment_thesis_updated.pdf
“Debunking GAM’s assessment of the Liontrust offer” can be found here:
https://newgam.ch/assets/downloads/NewGAMe_-_Debunking_Liontrust.pdf
Media contacts
Sasha Johnson, FinElk
newgam@finelk.eu
info@newgam.ch
www.newgam.ch
Investor contacts
Okapi Partners LLC
North America: +1 212 297 0720
Europe: + 44 7597 370570
info@okapipartners.com
About NewGAMe
NewGAMe SA is a Geneva-based company owned by a number of investors with experience in the financial sector. It is controlled by Rock Investment, a French-incorporated entity that is owned by NJJ Holding, the personal holding company of Xavier Niel. Albert Saporta, a hedge fund industry veteran with 40 years’ experience in global financial markets, serves as the director of NewGAMe SA.
About Bruellan
Bruellan SA is an independent provider of global wealth management solutions. The company was founded in 1991 and is located in Geneva, Lausanne, Crans-Montana and Verbier.
