Insights

Your once-a-month insider on talent + alternative investments.

The Locke-Down is a once-monthly newsletter for our closest contacts on topics related to talent and alternative investments. The newsletter covers 3 simple things:

What we’re hearing in the market,

What we’re reading, and

What we’re up to.

We are in the market, daily, and want to share our insights. We want to hear from you. What information would be valuable? We’re always available. Get in touch with us.

What we’re hearing

PE is dialing-back acquisition goals, bolstering IR and sourcing – many PE firms have dialed back ambitious platform goals for 2025 given the slow deal-making environment. That said, we’re seeing an uptick in IR and BD hires to bolster fundraising and deal-sourcing capabilities.

Asset-backed Finance is still hot – we continue to see new starts and team-builds in private asset-backed finance (ABF). “Investment Grade” ABF for insurance capital is leading the trend, but opportunistic ABF is also growing.

Strategic hires are moving slowly – economic uncertainty has led some firms to slow play senior hires. We are not seeing hiring freezes, but some timelines have stretched out.

What we’re reading

Or listening to, in this case – Dry Powder Podcast: NAV Loans Under the Microscope w/ 17Capital’s Pierre-Antoine de Selancy (Spotify)

What we’re up to

Private ABF team build – In April, TLG hired a Principal as the first Private ABF investor for a ~$10bn AUM alternatives firm. The ABF strategy will be incubated in firm’s opportunistic credit strategy and target mid-teen returns. More on that hire and team build to follow.

Sincerely,

The Locke Group

(Bloomberg) Credit Suisse Spinoff Asks If World Needs a New Investment Bank

CS First Boston is spinning-out of Credit Suisse as a major piece of CS’s restructuring. Bloomberg rolls the tape on First Boston’s history pre- and post-acquisition – including its famous dealmakers and infamous moments – and asks if a mid-sized investment bank is prepared to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

(Bloomberg) The Supreme Court will make it harder to hire a diverse team

“Two cases pending before the justices involve affirmative action at universities, but there are clear implications for companies.”

Stay tuned for our comments on SCOTUS’ decision.

(FT.com) Fund houses buy up ‘alts’ specialists to move beyond equities and bonds
Following Oak Hill’s acquisition by T. Rowe and CarVal’s acquisition by AllianceBernstein, FT calls attention to fund managers’ drive to acquire private equity and private credit businesses. Higher management fee revenues and the demand for alternative strategies from private wealth channels are cited as driving forces.

Not included is First Eagle’s announced acquisition of the credit manager Napier Park, which follows earlier acquisitions of THL Credit and Newstar. The First Eagle acquisition highlights the driving force private equity sponsors are playing in asset management M&A and growth strategy.

How a top asset manager found its investment data strategy leader.

Read and share this case study here (PDF).

Mandate and Challenges

Our Client is a leader in active investment management with long record of excellence and a growing global presence. They recognized the need to hire an Investment Data Strategy leader as a part of ongoing efforts to enhance their research process and improve investment performance.

They needed to define a brand-new leadership position, set a recruitment strategy, and attract a diverse slate of candidates. The right candidate required broad market and alternative data knowledge, experience setting data strategy across multiple asset classes, and the leadership qualities to build consensus among senior leadership and front office investment personnel.

Solution

Together, we agreed to search for a Director of Investment Data Strategy with comprehensive responsibility for data sourcing and strategy across investment products. The individual would partner with investment leaders to understand their data needs, advise, and set both short- and long-term strategic goals. We designed a search plan which targeted two distinct candidate profiles:

.Content and Data product leaders from major market data providers, and
.Data Sourcing and Strategy leaders from competing fund managers.

Success

Diverse short list – TLG provided a short list of 11 candidates, including 5 diversity candidates (45%), 4 candidates from major data providers and 7 candidates from competing fund managers.
The data providers stood out – each candidate from major data providers performed well (including the 2 finalists for the position), seeing multiple rounds of interviews. Diversity of client experience proved more valuable than more narrow in-house experience.
Successful hire – Our Client hired their top choice, a Vice President from FactSet’s Content & Technology Solutions division. He started with the Company in November 2020.

Tom Hudson is a Partner and Head of TLG’s Quantitative Services practice | tom@locke-group.com

The Locke Group (TLG) is a specialist executive search firm which has served the financial industry since 2003. As a boutique, we are deeply invested in our clients – our care for their experience and the experience of their candidates is second to none – and we possess both the strength and flexibility to deliver results which help to power their business.