ClearBridge Investments and Legg Mason Capital Management businesses will merge, according to a statement from Legg Mason, parent of both firms.
The combined unit will operate as ClearBridge, said Mary Athridge, spokeswoman at Legg Mason, in an e-mail. “For the moment, we have both brand names,” she wrote.
Sam Peters, chief investment officer at Legg Mason Capital Management, will continue to lead that investment management team and will report to Hersh Cohen and Scott Glasser, co-CIOs at ClearBridge. Terrence Murphy, chairman and president of ClearBridge, will retain his duties.
Bill Miller, chairman and portfolio manager at Legg Mason Capital Management, will not be joining ClearBridge but will remain co-owner with Legg Mason of LMM to manage the $1 billion Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity Trust Fund.
Mr. Peters will continue to run the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust, which he co-managed with Mr. Miller until April 30.
The combined business will have $67 billion in assets under management. Before the merger, ClearBridge ran $60 billion, according to Ms. Athridge.
Ms. Athridge said the merger was done to combine both firms’ investment strengths and capabilities. “There will be some redundancies,” she said, but for now no staff cuts are planned.
Executives at LMCM, Legg Mason and ClearBridge could not be reached for further comment. Ms. Athridge said the company is in a “quiet period” before the release of its fourth-quarter earnings report, scheduled for Jan. 28.
