First Eagle Investments is a US investment management company based in New York City that is an adviser to the First Eagle Funds. The company offers a wide range of investment strategies and funds focused on the following investment capabilities: equities, fixed income & currencies, alternative credit and real assets.
History
First Eagle Investments traces its heritage to a family owned bank, Gebr. Arnhold (Arnhold Brothers) founded in 1864 in Dresden, Germany. In 1931, Hans Arnhold combined his firm with S. Bleichröder to form Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder. In 1937, Hans Arnhold as Chairman and his son-in-law, Stephen Kellen, as CEO restarted the firm's activities in New York City, where the firm remains headquartered until the present day. [1]
The firm launched its first offshore fund, First Eagle Fund N.V in 1967, followed by its first US-registered mutual fund, First Eagle Fund of America in 1987 whose initial portfolio manager was Michael Kellen.
In 1999, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder acquired the majority share of Société Générale Asset Management, a subsidiary of the French bank Société Générale whose investment team managed global value equity strategies. At that time, the firm became the investment adviser to the First Eagle Funds, including the SocGen International Fund, later named the First Eagle Global Fund. The team managing these strategies became First Eagle's Global Value Team.
In 2002 the firm exited investment banking and global businesses to focus exclusively on investment management. In 2009 Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder renamed into First Eagle Investment Management.
Private equity companies Blackstone Group and Corsair Capital acquired a majority stake in the firm in 2015. Founding families and employees maintain a significant ownership stake in First Eagle.
First Eagle Investment Management added alternative credit capabilities via the acquisitions of NewStar Financial in 2017, and THL Credit in 2020, subsequently renamed as First Eagle Alternative Credit.
In 2021 the firm established a new Small Cap team under the leadership of Bill Hench who had previously managed key small cap strategies and funds at Royce Investment Partners.
In 2022 First Eagle acquired Napier Park Global Capital, a leading institutional manager of real assets and alternative credit strategies. Napier Park and First Eagle Alternative Credit have transformed First Eagle into a formidable player in alternative space globally.
In 2023, the firm established new High Yield Municipal Credit team under the leadership of John Miller who had previously spent almost three decades leading municipal team at Nuveen Investments.
As of 2024, First Eagle has five investment teams: Global Value, Small Cap, High Yield Municipal Credit, First Eagle Alternative Credit and Napier Park. The firm has wide ranging areas of investment expertise to provide clients equity, fixed income, alternative credit, and real assets capabilities for their portfolios. Many of the capabilities can be brought to bear on a standalone basis, and all of them through a customized solution that is tailor-made to address specific client needs. All of the capabilities, managed by First Eagle investment teams, reflect the firm's core investment tenets which are: fundamental bottom-up approaches, absolute return orientation, macro awareness and insight, high conviction threshold and resilient capital.
As of March 2024, the firm manages approximately $138 billion in assets on behalf of retail clients and institutions, and has 614 employees located in 9 offices globally with headquarters in New York City.
Funds
The First Eagle investment teams manages several mutual funds including: First Eagle Global Fund, First Eagle Overseas Fund, First Eagle U.S. Value Fund, First Eagle Gold Fund, First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund, First Eagle Small Cap Opportunities Fund, First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund and First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund.
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