Two GAM activist investors have today called for Liontrust Asset Management to sell the business to the highest bidder after claiming the firm is “significantly undervalued.”
The call comes three years after Liontrust’s bid to take over GAM was rejected by shareholders.
Albert Saporta and Randel Freeman, portfolio managers of the GAM Global Opportunities Fund and the GAM Global Special Situations Fund, have published an open letter to John Ions, CEO of Liontrust, calling for an immediate strategic review.
The two funds hold around 3.6% of Liontrust’s share capital.
The letter argues that Liontrust is significantly undervalued, with its share price having declined around 85% from its September 2021 peak. Assets under management have fallen from £42.3bn to around £22bn over the same period, valuing the company at only 0.68% of AUM.
The managers suggest that the current leadership “has failed to articulate a credible strategy for reversing this decline and that shareholders would be better served by a sale process given the rapid pace of consolidation across the UK asset management sector.”
The letter to Mr Ions says he has “tried several things during your exceedingly long tenure at Liontrust to prop-up the share price, and none of it seems to be working.”
It congratulates him, “on your recent very small deal to acquire River Global’s asset management business at an attractive valuation … However, this deal, your first in five years, like several of the other initiatives you have been trying, smacks of “way too little too late”.”
The letter accuses Mr Ions of having, “lost credibility in the eyes of your shareholders in your ability to turnaround the firm.”
Mr Saporta and Mr Freeman, have led other activist campaigns including challenging the terms of a proposed tender offer for Yutaka Giken, and an open letter to SBI Holdings calling for enhanced transparency and shareholder value maximisation.
In a statement to Financial Planning Today, Liontrust said: "The Board of Liontrust Asset Management Plc (“Liontrust”) notes the open letter sent and published on 23 March 2026 from two portfolio managers at GAM Alternatives.