ZURICH (Reuters) - GAM Holding <GAMH.S> has finished liquidating the absolute return bond funds (ARBF) the Swiss asset manager decided to wind down after it accused a senior executive of breaking its rules.
The embattled company has received all the proceeds from selling the remaining ARBF investments it held and would be returning the cash to investors, it said late on Monday.
Before it decided to liquidate the funds last September, the funds was valued at 11 billion Swiss francs (£8.9 billion).
Zurich-based GAM sacked Tim Haywood in February for gross misconduct, accusing him of potential conduct issues related to failure to perform sufficient due diligence and failure to make accessible some internal records.
The money manager was also accused of breaching GAM's signatory policy and may have used his personal email for work purposes, as well as contravening its company's gifts and entertainment policy. He has pledged to clear his name.
Haywood's suspension last year triggered an investor exodus and a 75% plunge in the GAM's shares in 2018, although the stock has recovered slightly this year.
GAM said the sale will result in an average of 100.5% of net asset value being returned to clients relative to the valuations when the liquidation of funds started, GAM said.
Clients have already received funds equivalent to 89–95% of the Luxembourg-regulated GAM Multibond and the Ireland-regulated GAM Star funds and 80–84% of the assets of the Cayman master funds and the associated Cayman and Australian feeder funds, the company said.
The final payments to clients are expected to be made by the end of July 2019.
"We are very pleased that we will be making the final payment to our ARBF investors over the coming weeks," Chief Executive David Jacob said. "We would like to thank all our clients for their continued patience during the liquidation process."
The company last week said it expects assets under management to have stabilised by the end of the year. It said assets under management were set to rise to around 136 billion Swiss francs as of June 30 from 132.2 billion francs at the end of 2018, still down from 163.8 billion francs in June 2018.
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
