Stamos Capital Partners conducted a management buyout of the stakes held by its two partners and Merrill Lynch & Co. Stamos Capital co-founder Peter Stamos reacquired the stakes from Merrill Lynch and the company's partners New York Mets co-owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. Both Wilpon and Katz formed the hedge fund company in 2002 together with Stamos.
According to a Bloomberg report, the transaction would allow Stamos to capitalize on a buyer's market for shares lenders have in money management companies. Bank of America Corp now owns Merrill. BofA had started to sell the stakes they hold in hedge funds as part of the requirements of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.
In a regulatory filing, Stamos said, "We believe that it is in the best interest of our funds, fund investors and managed account clients for the firm's management team to own a significant majority of the firm's equity."
Dorset Management Chief Investment Officer Julian Rundle said Stamos probably thought this was a good time to do the buyout. "When the fish come buying, that is when you want a hook in the water," Rundle told Bloomberg.
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