Irving, TX (PRWEB) July 14, 2016 -- American Beacon Advisors, Inc. (“American Beacon”), a leading provider of investment advisory services to institutional and retail markets, announced today that it has completed an investment of a minority interest in ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”), 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, said. “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 honored and delighted that American Beacon has selected ARK as the first boutique asset manager in which it is taking an ownership interest,” Catherine D. Wood, ARK Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, said. “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 U.S. 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,” Jane A. Kanter, ARK Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, said. “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,” Jeffrey K. Ringdahl, Chief Operating Officer of American Beacon, said. “Now that we have made our first investment, we look forward to sharing additional details of our new corporate structure later this year.”
Freeman & Co. LLC and Dechert LLP represented ARK. Colchester Partners and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates represented American Beacon.
About American Beacon Advisors
Established in 1986, American Beacon Advisors, Inc. is a leading provider of investment advisory services to institutional and retail markets. American Beacon Advisors serves defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, foundations, endowments, corporations and other institutional investors, as well as retail clients. The firm also provides corporate cash management and fixed-income separate account management.
American Beacon Advisors manages the American Beacon Funds, a series of competitively priced mutual funds. The Funds employ a “manager of managers” investment style and currently include international and domestic equity, fixed-income and money market funds. As of Mar. 31, 2016, American Beacon Advisors had $51.4 billion in assets under management. For more information, go to http://www.americanbeaconfunds.com or follow on Twitter via @AmBeacon.
About ARK Investment Management LLC
Headquartered in New York City, ARK Investment Management LLC is a federally registered investment adviser and privately held investment firm, specializing in thematic investing in disruptive innovation. The firm is rooted in over 50 years of experience in identifying and investing in disruptive innovations that are changing the way the world works and delivering outsized growth as industries transform. Through its open-source research process, ARK identifies companies that it believes are leading and benefiting from cross-sector innovations such as robotics, 3D printing, big data, machine learning, blockchain technology, cloud computing, energy storage, and DNA sequencing. ARK’s investment strategies include: Industrial Innovation, Next Generation Internet, Genomic Revolution, FinTech Innovations, 3D Printing, Israel Innovative Technologies, and the overall ARK Disruptive Innovation Strategy.
For additional information regarding ARK’s strategies, please visit http://www.ark-invest.com. For more information on ARK’s funds, please visit http://www.ark-funds.com. Catherine D. Wood can be followed on Twitter at @CathieDWood and the firm’s themes can be tracked at @ARKindu, @ARKwebx0, @ARKgenome, and @ARKblockchain. ARK’s corporate Twitter feed can be followed at @ARKInvest and ARK’s Funds can be followed at @ARK_ETFs.
Stephen Graddy, American Beacon Advisors, http://www.americanbeaconfunds.com/news/MediaContact.aspx, +1 (817) 391-6177, [email protected]
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