Voya Investment Management has agreed to acquire the business and certain assets of Portland, Ore.-based investment manager Tygh Capital Management, confirmed Voya spokesman Kristopher Kagel in an email.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Mr. Kagel clarified that Voya is not acquiring the legal corporate entity and will not assume its liabilities.
Founded in 2004, Tygh specializes in small-cap and smidcap growth investing for institutional and retail investors, managing $750 million in assets as of Oct. 31.
Joining Voya from Tygh once the deal closes, expected to be in the first quarter, will be Richard Johnson, CEO and chief investment officer; Jeff Curtis, president and CFO; and portfolio managers Michael Coyne, Scott Haugan and Mitchell Brivic. Mr. Johnson will become head of small-cap growth, while Mr. Curtis will be head of small-cap growth business management, Mr. Coyne will be senior portfolio manager for small-cap growth, while Messrs. Brivic and Haugan will serve as portfolio managers for small-cap growth.
The Tygh investment team will remain in Portland and become part of Voya's equities investment platform, with Messrs. Johnson and Curtis reporting to Vincent Costa and Michael Pytosh, co-CIOs of Equities at Voya IM.
The board for the TCM Small Cap Growth Fund, which has $520 million in AUM, has approved Voya Investment Management Co. as interim adviser to the fund, effective with the closing of the transaction.
The TCM Fund will also be reorganized into a new mutual fund called Voya Small Cap Growth in the second quarter, subject to shareholder approval.
