GAM has revealed details of when investors in the range of bond funds it is liquidating will receive their cash.
The company decided to liquidate the £7.3bn of assets in its range of unconstrained bond funds after the suspension of fund manager Tim Haywood because GAM had "significant concerns" about his record keeping and due diligence, particularly in relation to illiquid assets held in the funds.
GAM has now announced it expects investors to receive the value of their investment in cash by the end of September.
The company said the bulk of the assets held in the funds are liquid, so it is currently trying to strike a balance between the pace at which it converts those assets into cash and ensuring it gets the best price it can for those assets.
Investors will also be offered the chance to invest in an alternative bond fund product from GAM which will be unconstrained in its investment style which will be launched "in the coming weeks".
Alexander Friedman, chief executive of GAM said: "The suspension and the subsequent decision to liquidate the ARBF funds has been a difficult process, but necessary to ensure that we deliver on our principles of acting in the best interests of all fund investors and treating them equally and fairly. This does not take away from the fundamental strength of GAM as a diversified asset manager.
"We have spent the past few years restructuring GAM into a more efficient business with a less volatile earnings profile, while continuing to build out high performing, specialist strategies that are relevant for our clients.
"This has made GAM better positioned to weather a challenging environment, and we believe we will continue to attract clients to our platform and deliver value to our investors in the years to come."
The nine funds comprised the Absolute Return Bond strategy. The funds being liquidated are GAM Absolute Return Bond, GAM Absolute Return Bond Defender, GAM Absolute Return Bond Plus, GAM Star Absolute Return Bond, GAM Star Absolute Return Bond Defender, GAM Star Absolute Return Plus, GAM Star Dynamic Global Bond, GAM Absolute Return Bond Master Fund and GAM Unconstrained Bond fund.
david.thorpe@ft.com
