American Beacon Advisors, a provider of investment advisory services to institutional and retail markets, has completed an investment of a minority interest in ARK Investment Management, a New York based federally registered investment adviser that offers registered and unregistered investment products, including a suite of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on disruptive innovation.
While terms of the deal are undisclosed, this partnership will not impact ARK’s investment process or its other business initiatives.
“The thematic investment process and manager expertise of Catherine Wood and her team at ARK represent the institutional quality and enduring value we strive to bring to our clients,” Gene L Needles, Jr, Chairman, president and chief executive officer of American Beacon, says. “We have looked at more than 150 different opportunities in my tenure and ARK was the first to check all the boxes in terms of investment process, manager expertise and cultural fit that we have been looking for in an investment opportunity.”
“We are honoured and delighted that American Beacon has selected ARK as the first boutique asset manager in which it is taking an ownership interest,” says Catherine D Wood, ARK founder, chief executive officer and chief investment officer. “American Beacon’s philosophy of seeking long-term growth and its ‘appetite for innovation’ align perfectly with ARK’s belief that innovation is key to growth. Our strategies seek to invest in companies that are transforming both their industries and the global economy. Partnering with American Beacon provides us with the US retail distribution excellence that ARK needs in order to offer investment opportunities in disruptive innovation to a wide range of investors.”
Investing exclusively in disruptive innovation, ARK aims to deliver superior long-term capital appreciation and outperformance with a low correlation of relative returns to traditional investment strategies.
Since its founding in 2014, ARK has received numerous awards and accolades, including “Innovative Product of the Year 2016” by Fund Action and “Women in Finance, Outstanding Contribution 2016” by Markets Media.
“We are confident that ARK’s investment process and products are an excellent complement to core investment portfolios,” says Jane A Kanter, ARK chief operating officer and general counsel. “What makes this strategic partnership so attractive to ARK is that American Beacon appreciates the excellence of our investment team and operations and is committed to assuring that our culture, values and mission remain intact while providing a platform for ARK to grow its business to the next level.”
In advance of taking an ownership position in ARK, American Beacon created a multi-affiliate investment management holding company. Further details of the new holding company will be released later this year.
“The leadership team at American Beacon, with the full support of our private equity owners, has been working towards the goal of being a multi-affiliate investment management firm for quite some time,” says Jeffrey K Ringdahl, chief operating officer of American Beacon. “Now that we have made our first investment, we look forward to sharing additional details of our new corporate structure later this year.”
