Sale of firm nets €15m for owners

TWO businessmen who set up an asset management company have sold 30% of the firm for around €15 million.

Nick Corcoran and Nigel McDermott, the founders of Cardinal Asset Management, which focuses on alternative asset investment products and services for the institutional market, netted €7.5m from the sale of 15% of the company to British fund manager ISIS with an institution.

A further 15% of Cardinal’s shares have been placed with private investors for the same amount.

The deal values Cardinal at €50m. Based in London and Dublin Cardinal will create and manage alternative investment products based on hedge funds, private-equity and fund of hedge funds.

Both men who are well known in the industry have worked in top posts in Irish and international firms.

Mr Corcoran is a former founding director of Zurich Capital. Prior to the sale of the principal business assets to BNP Paribas in 2003, Zurich alternative asset exposure was in excess of $10 billion.

Mr McDermott is a former founding director of International Investments & Underwriting (IIU), which is Dermot Desmond’s main investment vehicle.

The pair are currently hiring a team of highly-regarded fund managers and also on the verge of completing a number of institutional partnerships in Asia and Australia.

Mr Corcoran said yesterday that the alternative asset industry is moving beyond its pioneering and fragmented phase and consolidation will be a trend amongst product providers and hedge fund managers.

“We see asset growth predominantly fuelled by the institutional market going forward. Their requirements are increasingly sophisticated in terms of portfolio construction, product delivery and risk management,” he added.

Cardinal said it has spent several months developing a sophisticated infrastructure and systems platform that can meet the needs of the largest and most demanding institutional clients.