Sarasin & Partners has acquired Bread Street Capital along with its team, including founders Alex Barr and James Witter, effective from today (31 March).
The deal will facilitate a move for Sarasin & Partners into specialist private markets, with the launch of a new business, Sarasin Bread Street, providing clients with access to a broad range of private asset investment opportunities.
Sarasin & Partners, which has assets under management of £21 billion, is a global investment manager focused on thematic and responsible investments on behalf of institutions, charities and private clients.
Bread Street, a private markets boutique, was founded in 2021 by the private markets investment duo formally of Aberdeen Standard Investments.
Barr and Witter will now head up Sarasin Bread Street, focusing on building the investment programme and the business’ strategic growth. They will also become partners of Sarasin & Partners LLP.
In welcoming Barr and Witter as new partners, Guy Matthews, chief executive of Sarasin & Partners, said: “Sarasin & Partners has been steadily increasing its clients’ exposure to unlisted assets. This deal is a natural evolution of our strategy and will allow us to access a wider and more differentiated range of private markets opportunities.”
Key Bread Street team members, Alexander Henderson, head of strategic partnerships and Guy Eastman, senior adviser, will continue in their existing roles at Sarasin Bread Street.
Barr said: “With our long-established investment expertise in private markets, we set up Bread Street to widen investor access to these asset classes.
“Sarasin Bread Street will be an innovative, competitive force in this space, well positioned to capitalise on our already advanced development of specialist products for the institutional, endowment and private wealth client segments.”
Witter added: “The active ownership model of private equity provides the ability to deliver good ESG outcomes which complements Sarasin & Partners’ recognised commitment to responsible investing.”
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