Portfolio managers from the GAM Global Opportunities and Global Special Situations Funds have urged Liontrust Asset Management to launch a “strategic review” aimed at selling the business.
In an open letter to John Ions, CEO of Liontrust, Albert Saporta and Randel Freeman argued that the company is “significantly undervalued”, referencing an approximate 85% fall in its share price since September 2021.
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During the same period, Liontrust’s assets under management declined from £42.3bn ($56.5bn) to about £22bn, resulting in a market valuation of just 0.68% of its AUM.
The letter noted that Liontrust’s share price has dropped by more than 60% since its unsuccessful bid to acquire GAM in the summer of 2023.
As of 20 March 2026, the GAM Global Opportunities Fund and GAM Global Special Situations Fund together held 2,195,000 shares in Liontrust Asset Management, amounting to roughly 3.6% of the company’s share capital.
“Liontrust’s share price performance is the worst amongst major UK fund management companies during this period,” the letter noted.
Saporta and Freeman criticised the company’s leadership, stating it “failed to articulate a credible strategy for reversing this decline”.
The letter said: “You have tried several things during your exceedingly long tenure at Liontrust to prop-up the share price, and none of it seems to be working” adding that “like several of the other initiatives you have been trying, smacks of ‘way too little too late’.”
The letter further noted compensation received by Ions since taking on the CEO role in 2010, referencing total remuneration close to £40m, including £17m over the past five years.
Against the backdrop of broader industry consolidation and recent deals involving sector peers, the portfolio managers wrote: “Liontrust should immediately commence a strategic review, with the objective of selling the company to the highest bidder as it is no longer in a position to act as a serious consolidator” citing the “fragmented nature of the industry”
The letter concluded: “From predator, it is time for the Lion to become prey, before trust is definitely lost.”
They said the River Global acquisition, the first in five years, was “way too little, too late.”
The letter pointed to recent developments in the sector, noting that events such as the acquisition activity involving Schroders and the ongoing bids for Janus Henderson “should act as a wake-up call.”
