iM Global Partner, today announced the acquisition of a 40% interest in Scharf Investments, an independently owned and employee-controlled US equity value firm with $3.4bn AUM as of end of March 2019. With this new acquisition in the US, iM Global Partner aims to strengthen its offering with a wider range of high alpha products.

iM Global Partner is a leading investment and development platform focused on acquiring strategic investments in best-in-class traditional and alternative investment firms in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Scharf Investments is a California-based firm founded in 1983. Managed by Brian Krawez, President and Investment Committee Chairman, the company grew from 5 people and under $700m of assets under management in 2007 to 24 people and $3.4bn of assets under management today.

All the strategies are managed with the same value fundamental bottom up and focused approach. They look for securities with significant discounts to their valuation as margin of safety, high earnings predictability and solid growth. Scharf Investments currently manages four distinct strategies:

The long-only US equity strategy, their core equity strategy on which the three others are based

The long-only multi-asset strategy

The long/short hedged US equity strategy

The long-only global equity strategy

Philippe Couvrecelle, founder and CEO of iM Global Partner, said: “Scharf Investments is an outstanding company with a solid long term track record. Across various time periods, they have proven their ability to withstand adverse market conditions thanks to a sustainable investment process. Our two distribution platforms in the US and in Europe will support them to grow in both the US and international markets. This new deal is the fifth investment we have done in the US with our consistent objective to provide access to unique asset management boutiques across the world.”

Brian Krawez, President of Scharf Investments added: “In the past 10 years, we have seen growth in our AUM thanks to our capabilities to cross adverse market conditions. This partnership with iM Global Partner is a fantastic opportunity to accelerate our development. iM Global Partner’s US and international strong experience in the asset management industry and the cultural fit we have with them is for us a real gage of solidity and long-term partnership.”

Jeff Seeley, U.S. deputy CEO of iM Global Partner and head of US distribution, commented: “Scharf Investments is a proven leader in value equity asset management with a top 1% long term track record of its flagship strategy since inception[1]. We are excited to partner with them. Their full suite of high-quality investment strategies will help us to broaden our already established relationships and further develop new relationships with institutions, financial advisors, RIAs, high net worth clients and intermediary model portfolios.”

About iM Global Partner

iM Global Partner is an innovative global multi-boutique platform based in Paris, London and Philadelphia, that partners with unique, independent asset management companies with the joint objective of accelerating their business growth, particularly toward worldwide and multichannel distribution. iM Global Partner currently has strategic minority investments in five asset managers – Polen Capital, Dolan McEniry Capital Management, Sirios Capital Management, Dynamic Beta investments and Scharf Investments. iM Global Partner represents assets under management of $9.6 billion (March 2019) in proportion to its participations. iM Global Partner’s strategic shareholders include Eurazeo, a leading European private equity investor, Amundi, the largest asset manager in Europe and Dassault/La Maison, a group of leading private shareholders.

About Scharf Investments

Founded in 1983, Scharf Investments is an investment firm that provides high quality value investment strategies to individuals, family offices, corporations, endowments and foundations. The firm maintains a strict focus on valuation, margin of safety, investment flexibility and long-term perspective. With a dual focus on prudent guidance and capital protection, Scharf Investments works to help secure their clients’ financial future. Their time-tested investment strategy aims to reduce volatility and better preserve and grow capital over the long term. Scharf Investments’ rigorous methodology judges a multitude of complexities, but the end result is very simple: “Your success is our success”. For more information on Scharf investments visit www.scharfinvestments.com