Hamilton Lane Names New CFO in Leadership Shuffle

Asset manager Hamilton Lane announced a management restructuring, including a new chief financial officer, in a bid to ready itself for future growth.

The revamping involves three executives already at the firm and one outside hire. These moves, which are effective August 8, come after the May promotion of Andrea Kramer, who had served at the company since 2005, to chief operating officer.

“We are delighted to strengthen Hamilton Lane’s leadership team with a group of long-tenured, experienced professionals who bring innovative perspectives, strategic insights and a forward-looking, global mindset to our firm,” the firm’s CEO, Mario Giannini, said in a statement.

Hamilton Lane, based outside Philadelphia, has $857 billion in assets under management and specializes in private assets. When founded in 1991, it was an investment consultant to pension funds, but over the years, it has expanded into private asset management and now has 23 offices worldwide. It still does consulting work, and Giannini has twice been named to CIO’s list of top Knowledge Brokers.

Want the latest institutional investment industry news and insights? Sign up for CIO newsletters. 

The new CFO is Jeffrey Armbrister, who had led the firm’s direct equity investment business, which earlier this year closed a new investment fund with more than $2 billion in investor commitments. He replaces Atul Varma, who is departing the company to pursue other interests.

Andrew (Drew) Schardt will become a vice chair while retaining his role as head of investment strategy. Nayef Perry will assume sole control of the firm’s credit business as head of direct credit, after previously serving as co-head with Schardt. Ken Binick will join Hamilton Lane as head of execution on the direct equity team, reporting to Schardt. Binick previously was co-head of the co-investment business at Portfolio Advisors LLC.

In February, the New York State Common Retirement Fund earmarked $300 million within its private equity portfolio to the Hudson River Co-Investment Fund IV, managed by Hamilton Lane. The fund aims at middle-market companies in New York state, primarily in the healthcare, technology, transportation, business services and manufacturing sectors.

Publicly traded Hamilton Lane has enjoyed steady expansion of revenue. Its earnings slumped 25% in the fiscal year ending March 31, to $109 million, due to what the company described as poor 2022 market conditions. The stock is up by slightly more than one-third in the calendar year.

New York Common Commits $1.3 Billion to Sustainable Program

People Moves Roundup

Tags: Andrea Kramer, Andrew Schardt, Hamilton Lane, Jeffrey Armbrister, Mario Giannini, New York Common Retirement Fund

U.K. investment giant Abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, has agreed to sell its U.S. private markets business to alternative asset manager HighVista Strategies. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Abrdn plc’s U.S. subsidiary will transfer the management of approximately $4 billion in assets under management and 30 employees to HighVista Strategies LLC.

Abrdn, which manages approximately 376 billion pounds ($483.5 billion) in assets, stated that following a comprehensive business review of its private markets business, it concluded that the U.S. private equity and venture capital business, which it acquired when it bought Flag Capital in 2015, would be best developed under a different ownership and management structure.

“Our investments business is focused to capitalize on the key themes shaping the market, through either public markets or alternatives,” René Buehlmann, abrdn’s CEO of investments, said in a statement. “The sale of $4 billion of assets to HighVista underlines our commitment to exit non-core businesses that no longer align to our overall offering or product strategy.”

Want the latest institutional investment industry news and insights? Sign up for CIO newsletters. 

HighVista will acquire the U.S. private markets business of abrdn Inc., including the U.S. private equity and venture capital assets, as well as the investment and operational teams. According to HighVista, the deal, which is expected to close later this year, will increase its assets under management to approximately $9 billion. The firm specializes in alternative investments in less efficient markets and invests on behalf of pensions, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and high-net-worth individuals and families.

Kirsten Morin and Peter Mooradian, co-heads of abrdn’s global venture capital investments, will continue to manage the global venture capital strategy, and abrdn’s Peter Lawrence will become a senior adviser. The senior U.S. private equity team, which includes John Dickie, Scott Reed, Whit Matthews, Rob Nagle and Ryan Tiffany, will continue to manage the U.S. private equity business.

“The combination of abrdn’s U.S. private equity and venture capital business with HighVista unites two teams that are culturally and philosophically aligned, especially around our investment approach and pursuit of alpha in inefficient markets,” André Perold, CIO, co-founder and partner in HighVista Strategies, said in a release. “Our teams have known each other for years, and we expect this collaboration to lead to significant cross-pollination of investment ideas over time.”