Five senior principals at Cayman Islands-based Argyle Fund Management have acquired a 51% stake in the company, taking majority ownership from its founding shareholder.
The transaction, effective 5 November, transfers the majority equity interest from Olio Holdings Ltd to Robert Chin, Glenn Kennedy, Peter Rigg, John Howard and James Lawi.
They will become shareholders alongside Olio, which retains a continuing interest.
The deal was structured as a negotiated internal sale, with a new shareholders’ agreement setting out the parties’ respective rights and responsibilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The new ownership group brings together senior figures responsible for the firm’s key operational, investment, business development and regulatory functions.
Chin, Argyle’s chief executive, oversees operations, fund administration and audit coordination.
Rigg and Howard are members of the investment committee and oversee investment adviser direction, while Lawi leads business development.
Kennedy, a director of the company, is responsible for compliance, legal matters, fund governance and regulatory affairs in Cayman.
“This transaction puts ownership of Argyle in the hands of the people who build and run the business day to day,” Chin said in an Argyle press release.
“We are grateful to Olio for its support in reaching this point, and we look forward to continuing to serve our investors with the same discipline and focus that have defined the firm since its founding.”
The new shareholders’ agreement includes governance arrangements, restrictions on share transfers and succession provisions designed to keep ownership aligned with active involvement in the business over the long term.
Argyle and Olio have also entered into customary closing arrangements connected with the transaction.
Argyle is registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority under the Securities Investment Business Act and manages Forden Fund Ltd, a fund of hedge funds with reported assets of US$1 billion.
