Kestrel sells its AIM IHT Business to Whitman Asset Management

Kestrel Partners, the specialist micro-cap investment management company, announces the sale of KITS, its AIM Inheritance Tax Portfolio service, to Whitman Asset Management, the fund management and private client investment firm.

The sale results from Kestrel’s increasing concentration on an institutionally orientated micro-cap activist strategy, which has resulted in its AIM IHT operations becoming a significantly smaller part of the overall business. Following this sale, Kestrel will focus on its successful micro-cap strategy, specialising in business-critical software companies.

Whitman has many years’ experience managing AIM portfolios IHT portfolios for private clients, with a specialist smaller company investment team led by Christopher Pease who has been managing AIM IHT portfolios since 2007. This acquisition extends their IHT portfolio practice.

Oliver Scott, Kestrel’s co-founder and Joint Managing Partner, explains: “We launched KITS ten years ago; since then, we have built an enviable track record and achieved considerable growth in assets under management. However, over the past few years Kestrel has focused increasingly on its micro-cap activist strategy, primarily aimed at institutional clients, and our AIM IHT operations have become a significantly smaller part of our overall business. We have therefore decided that our KITS clients will benefit from being serviced by a specialist private client and AIM IHT Investment Manager. We believe Whitman’s ethos and culture will provide good continuity of service to former KITS clients.”

Araminta Le Flufy, CEO of Whitman Asset Management, adds: “We are delighted that so many of the KITS clients have decided to become clients of Whitman. We see AIM IHT portfolio investing as a prudent tax planning tool, and most importantly giving investors excellent exposure to the smaller company asset class, which we believe has the potential for extremely attractive returns over the long term. We are steadily expanding our private client business and continue to invest in new people that share our vision of an investment-led service, using our size and experience as a distinct advantage for the benefit of our clients.”

oliver@kestrelpartners.com

020 3371 6103