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Polar Capital announced it has reached an agreement to acquire from LA-based asset manager First Pacific Advisors (FPA) its International Value and World Equity team led by Pierre Py and Greg Herr.
Polar Capital said it will establish a joint venture with the team called Phaeacian Partners, with separate branding but 'with economics consistent with the other investment teams at Polar Capital'.
At the end of 2019, the Py and Herr managed approximately $1bn of assets in three pooled vehicles and three institutional segregated accounts.
Under the agreement, Polar Capital said each FPA fund will be reorganised into a new US series trust.
Polar Capital, the managers and FPA will be recommending to the FPA Funds Board, FPA Fund shareholders and all of the managers' existing clients to transition to the Polar Capital platform.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete in the third or fourth quarter of 2020, with the managers, their team and their business transferring to Polar Capital and the FPA funds reorganising into a newly-established series trust organised by Polar Capital.
Polar Capital chief executive Gavin Rochussen said: 'This is a very exciting development for Polar Capital that begins to deliver our strategy to develop an international and global product, an institutional presence and to establish a Polar Capital North American bridgehead to complement our existing east coast presence.
'The establishment of Phaeacian Partners is clear evidence of the delivery of this strategy.'
He added: 'Pierre, Greg and their colleagues are precisely the type of team that we have been looking to recruit; a global and international equity team, deploying a fundamental value style of investing with an excellent track record, with existing institutional support and significant growth potential.'