Liongate Capital Management is in the process of closing its doors and returning money to investors, said Adam Lackey, a spokesman for Principal Global Investors, which owns a 55% stake in the London-based hedge funds-of-funds manager.
“Liongate Capital Management has been subject to a number of headwinds over the last two years from the loss of clients and the consequent reduction in assets under management,” Mr. Lackey said in an e-mail.
The loss of assets and investors put Liongate’s business under pressure and after a review, the firm’s board decided to liquidate the existing funds and give clients their assets back, Mr. Lackey added.
Liongate’s assets under management totaled $445 million as of June 30, according to the company’s most recent ADV filing with the SEC.
Trouble has been brewing for some time at Liongate, which managed $2.1 billion when Principal Global Investors acquired the firm in 2013.
Parent company, Principal Financial Group, saw its net income “negatively impacted by $44 million due to the impairment of Liongate, our hedge fund-of-funds boutique,” during the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to the transcript of Principal’s Jan. 30 earnings call.
In April, Principal Global Investors replaced Liongate’s co-founders, Randall Dillard, CEO and chief investment officer, and Jeff Holland, managing director, with Principal Global Investors’ personnel, information in the brochure section of Liongate’s ADV showed.
