Updated with correction
Growth equity boutique Fred Alger Management Inc. is fighting the trend toward alternatives and other investment strategies.
“It's like swimming in a river against very strong currents,” said Daniel C. Chung, CEO and chief investment officer, in an interview. “Competitors are falling behind us, but when we look to the shoreline, our progress forward is less than it should be. But that's the nature of the markets.”
Still, the New York-based money manager that survived the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, also has come through a turbulent several years for active growth equity firms, and some institutions have taken notice. Alger, which had $18.6 billion in assets under management as of March 31, has gained four institutional clients since the start of 2012, according to Alger and Pensions & Investments data:
- the $2 billion Purdue University endowment, West Lafayette, Ind., which put $57 million in the Alger Capital Appreciation strategy, funded last December;
- the $436 million Philadelphia Gas Works Retirement Reserve, $27 million in active large-cap growth in mid-2012;
- Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Oakland, Calif., $101 million in the capital appreciation strategy, funded in April 2012; and
- the Montana Public Employees Retirement Board, Helena, which added the capital appreciation strategy as an option in its $75 million 401(a) plan early in 2012.