Acadian Asset Management Inc. (AAMI)

Acadian Asset Management Inc. (formerly BrightSphere Investment Group Inc., renamed effective January 1, 2025) is a holding company that operates a systematic investment management business through its majority owned subsidiary, Acadian Asset Management LLC. Founded in 1986, Acadian LLC managed approximately $117 billion of assets as of December 31, 2024. It uses a data-rich, highly structured approach to identify and exploit systematic and structural market inefficiencies, applying investment and risk considerations to more than 65,000 securities across over 150 global markets. The company's profit-sharing model lets it participate directly in margin expansion as Acadian LLC grows, while Acadian LLC's partners retain meaningful equity to keep interests aligned. It was incorporated in 2014 in England and Wales and redomesticated to Delaware in 2019.

Acadian LLC constitutes the Quant & Solutions reportable segment. It manages strategies in developed and developing markets, including global, emerging market, international and small cap equities, as well as credit and alternative strategies. Growth initiatives include enhanced equity, equity extensions (such as 130/30 products), systematic credit and equity alternatives. Clients access these strategies through separate accounts and commingled funds, including mutual funds, UCITS and Collective Investment Trusts. The company generates significant recurring free cash flow, which it uses for seed capital, growth investments, share repurchases, dividends and debt repayment. It repurchased about 59% of its shares between January 2020 and December 2024.

Acadian LLC serves institutional investors worldwide, with clients domiciled in about 40 countries. The institutional channel accounts for over 80% of AUM, including public/government pensions (43%) and corporate plans (13%), as well as sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations. Sub-advisory represented 9% of AUM. Clients are reached directly and through investment consultants and advisors, and the company also maintains relationships with insurance companies, private banks, OCIOs and fund of funds. The client base is not heavily concentrated: the top five relationships were about 13% of run rate gross management fee revenue and the top 25 about 35%.

The firm has over 120 investment and research professionals and 383 full-time equivalent employees, 20 of them at the holding company. Its investment process relies on proprietary software, continuously updated data servers, portfolio optimization tools and a fully automated trading and compliance system. It competes with international and domestic investment managers, hedge funds and financial institution subsidiaries, many with greater resources, as well as lower-fee passive products such as ETFs. Competition centers on performance, strategy breadth, team quality and continuity, client service and reputation. Acadian LLC is regulated by the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act and, for registered funds, the Investment Company Act. It is also subject to CFTC, ERISA, FINRA, and non-U.S. regulators, including the UK FCA, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Australian Securities and Investments Commission.