GAM has become the latest target of a Swiss investor activist. The most recent target of the hedge-fund manager was airline caterer Gategroup, which subsequently was sold, a destiny GAM may face as well.
China’s HNA last year announced it wanted to buy Gategroup for an amount corresponding to a premium of 20 percent in relation to the stock-market value. Rudolf Bohli, who held 12 percent of the company, was unhappy about the offer. He demanded 100 francs per share, almost double the 53 francs offered by the Chinese company.
Bohli’s attempt to get a better price for his stake failed and Gategroup was sold to the Chinese. The story however goes to show what Bohli, the founder and boss of RBR Capital Advisors, is all about and what GAM is facing, now that he has set his sights on the Zurich-based asset manager.
Small Stake
The hedge-fund manager wants to install three new board members at GAM and get rid of Johannes de Gier, the chairman. RBS proposes Kasia Robinski (pictured) as a replacement for the current chairman. Robinski is an experienced turnaround manager.
Compared with the situation at Gategroup, Bohli’s position at GAM is weaker, with a small stake of 2.1 percent held through his fund. He hasn’t publicly criticized the management and board of GAM and also has yet to say what he would want to change at the asset manager. He wasn’t available for comment.
Not Holding Back
Bohli founded RBR in 2003. Previously he worked as head of research at Bank am Bellevue.
Last year, when he tried to get more money for his stake in Gategourmet, he didn’t hold back in his criticism about the management of the company: Inadequate corporate governance and a weak operative management. Bohli demanded a replacement for Chairman Andreas Schmid whose performance he deemed «catastrophic».
Paltry Performance
Some GAM shareholders were also unhappy about the performance of the GAM management, led by CEO Alex Friedman and de Gier. Under the guidance of Friedman, a former investment boss at UBS, GAM shares lost almost half of their value.
The paltry performance of the asset manager in recent years had led to questions about the strategic performance of the leadership and finews.com had suggested whether GAM was a takeover candidate given its size and position.
Top Earners
Friedman diversified the investment focus by way of takeovers and he aims to make GAM a top hedge-fund provider. Customers at the same time pulled out their assets.
The U.S. manager is a top earner in Switzerland, raking in 15 million Swiss francs in his first year at GAM (including bonuses he had been entitled too at UBS) and 5 million francs in his second year. De Gier received 1.3 million francs as chairman in 2015, a very substantial sum for a chairman in Switzerland.
Little surprise then that Bohli also wants to change the line-up of the compensation committee.
In Talks?
GAM didn’t say whether the company had yet talked to Bohli about his demands, adding that the asset manager continuously held talks with its shareholders.
The hedge-fund manager may try to find allies for his bid or stock up the stake. What’s clear is that he wants to get elected to the board of GAM, together with Robinski. The manager until today was listed as a partner at U.K.-based Hanover Investors.
