GAM made peace with a former star fund manager it sacked in February. The move comes as the battered asset manager attempts to stage a recovery under its third CEO in one year.
Zurich-based GAM has laid to rest a year-long feud with Tim Haywood, a veteran of the company and formerly the star fund manager of a flagship absolute return fixed income fund. Haywood had contested his February sacking for gross misconduct.
«GAM is focused on the future of the business, and while it stands by its finding of gross misconduct, it has agreed with Tim Haywood that neither party will pursue the other based on current facts,» the asset manager said in a statement on Tuesday.
Various GAM Fees
This means that GAM and Haywood, whose suspension last July set off the company's downward spiral, have apparently reached an agreement: last month, the former fund manager had told finews.com that he was seeking conciliation talks with his former employer.
GAM flagged «various costs» in winding down the bond funds Haywood had managed, including «legal fees and other professional fees,» but didn't specify further. A GAM spokesman said that continuing to focus on the bond fund's problems «would not be in the interest of GAM's shareholders or clients,» without elaborating.
Recovery Bid
A spokesman for Haywood said the fund manager is dropping the matter. «Tim Haywood declines to proceed with the employee tribunal because in this particular case the expected minimum legal costs far exceed the maximum possible financial award,» the spokesman said.
«Mr. Haywood still believes in the merit of his case for unfair dismissal,» the spokesman added.
The news comes as the Swiss asset manager, which was spun out of Julius Baer in 2009, attempts a recovery under former Blackrock executive Peter Sanderson as its CEO. The company scrapped its dividend after reporting a net loss last year and began slashing spending in a recovery bid following the scandal.
