PanAgora Asset Management

PanAgora Asset Management, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryInvestment Management
Founded1989; 36 years ago (1989)
Founders
  • Richard A. Crowell
HeadquartersOne International Place, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Key people
Eric Sorensen (President and CEO)
AUMUS$44 billion (March 31, 2022)
Number of employees
126 (2022)
Parent
Websitewww.panagora.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

PanAgora Asset Management (PanAgora) is an American investment management firm based in Boston. The firm is noted for its usage of quantitative analysis in its approach to investing.[2][3][4] It is a direct subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco and its ultimate parent is Power Financial.[5]

Background

PanAgora was founded in 1989 by Richard A. Crowell.[2][3] Crowell is considered to be one of the early pioneers of quantitative investing.[2][3] When the firm was founded, Crowell made sure all of its strategies were quantitative.[2] However, later on the firm also incorporated the use of behavioral economics to perform analysis.[2][6]

PanAgora originally was a 50-50 joint venture between Shearson Lehman Brothers and Nippon Life.[7][8]

In 1997, Putnam Investments acquired 50% of PanAgora from the shareholder now named Lehman Brothers.[7][9][10]

On August 22, 1998, Crowell died from cancer at 57.[8]

PanAgora opened an office in London in 1990 which oversaw around $800 million in assets, mainly for European pension funds.[7][10] However, by 1998, the London office was closed due to lack of profitability.[7][10]

PanAgora and DZ Bank formed a joint venture called DG PanAgora in 1998.[7][10] PanAgora exited the joint venture in 2008 by selling its stake to Union Investment, the investment arm of DZ Bank.[11]

In 2004, Eric Sorensen joined PanAgora from Putnam Investments and is currently the president and CEO of the firm.[12] In the same year, Putnam Investments acquired an additional 30% stake of PanAgora from Ippon Life increasing its holding to 80%.[13] In 2018, Putnam Investments acquired the remaining 20% stake of PanAgora from Nippon Life.[14]

PanAgora was directly owned by Putnam Investments which was owned by Great-West Lifeco and ultimately owned by Power Financial.[5] On May 31, 2023, Great-West Lifeco announced that Franklin Templeton Investments would acquire Putnam Investments for $925 million. PanAgora would not be included in the acquisition and would remain under Great-West Lifeco.[15][16][17]

The term Risk parity was coined by Edward Qian in a paper written in 2004.[4][18] Qian is currently Chief investment officer of Multi Asset Investments at PanAgora.[4][18]

References

  1. ^ "Form ADV" (PDF). SEC. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "AN OPTIMIST IN THE WILDERNESS". October 18, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Robert Korajczyk wins Crowell Prize for stock return study - Kellogg School of Management". www.kellogg.northwestern.edu. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Quant Famed for Ray Dalio-Like Trades Has Battle Plan for Stocks". Bloomberg.com. February 27, 2019. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Power Corporation of Canada | Organization Chart". www.powercorporation.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  6. ^ Journal, Bernard Wysocki Jr Staff Reporter of The Wall Street (December 4, 1996). "Panagora Tests New Theory Of Irrational Stock Buying". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e "PANAGORA GIVES UP ON LONDON". Pensions & Investments. December 13, 2006. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "CROWELL LOSES CANCER BATTLE". Pensions & Investments. December 13, 2006. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  9. ^ "PANAGORA'S CLIENTS CHEER PUTNAM LINK". Pensions & Investments. December 13, 2006. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d Newswires, Sylvia BettermannDow Jones (November 17, 1998). "PanAgora Asset Management To Scale Back Its U.K. Office". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  11. ^ "Putnam unit to exit German fund joint venture". Reuters. December 18, 2008. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  12. ^ Grene, Sophia (October 3, 2010). "Eric Sorensen: chief pilot of quant models". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Putnam Raises Stake In PanAgora To 80% And Eyes Japanese Institutional Market - Global Custodian". www.globalcustodian.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  14. ^ "Nippon Life to make Nissay Asset Management fully owned unit". www.spglobal.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "Great-West Lifeco announces sale of Putnam Investments to Franklin Templeton". www.newswire.ca. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  16. ^ Masters, Brooke (May 31, 2023). "Franklin Templeton to buy Putnam Investments for more than $1bn". Financial Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  17. ^ "Great-West Lifeco announces sale of Putnam Investments to Franklin Templeton". Yahoo Finance. May 31, 2023. Archived from the original on June 3, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Quant Who Coined Risk Parity Says Wall Street Has It Wrong". Bloomberg.com. September 29, 2016. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2022.