Industry Investment management Headquarters Jersey City Type of business Private | Website www.lordabbett.com Founded 1929 | |
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Key people Daria L. Foster (Managing Partner) Products Mutual funds
Institutional portfolio management
Separately managed accounts Subsidiaries Lord Abbett Distributor LLC, Lord Abbett Limited | ||
Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC is an independent, privately held investment manager headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The firm offers a variety of fixed−income and equity strategies to individual and institutional investors.
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Description
Lord Abbett is a privately owned, limited liability company with 61 active partners (as of December 31, 2015). Managing Partner Daria L. Foster leads the firm and is responsible for setting strategic direction and business management. Robert I. Gerber, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, is responsible directing the portfolio management, research, and trading activities for the firm’s equity and fixed-income strategies. He plans to retire on June 30, 2016. As a result, Robert A. Lee, Partner & Deputy Chief Investment Officer, will assume the role of Chief Investment Officer on July 1, 2016.
The firm focuses solely on actively managed investment portfolios. Lord Abbett’s strategies are available within separate and sub-advised accounts, commingled and mutual funds, and managed account platforms.
History
On November 18, 1929, several weeks after the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression, Andrew James Lord and his associates created Lord, Westerfield & Co., Inc., with headquarters at 68 William Street, a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1931, the Westerfields resigned from the company. Leon Abbett, a member of the founding group and the son of a former two-time New Jersey governor and state Supreme Court justice, provided the capital contribution that enabled the firm to continue. Two years later, the name of the company was changed to Lord, Abbett & Co.
In 1932, Lord created an investment trust, American Business Shares, which is now known as the Lord Abbett Income Fund. Two years later, the Lord Abbett Affiliated Fund was launched.
Lord Abbett, along with other investment companies, made important contributions to the drafting of the Investment Company Act of 1940, which defines the responsibilities and limitations of investment firms. Citation:.
In 1971, Lord Abbett launched the Lord Abbett Bond Debenture Fund, one of the first funds to invest in a combination of fixed−income securities. The firm launched its institutional business in 1976, with the introduction of a large-cap value product for an institutional client.
In the early 1990s, fund performance and asset growth slowed, prompting the company to reorganize. Managing Partner Bob Dow (who had managed the Lord Abbett Bond Debenture Fund) increased the number of partners and expanded the mutual fund lineup to include international stocks and large-cap growth stocks. Assets rose from $17 billion in 1996, when Dow took over, to more than $100 billion in 2007. Daria Foster, who succeeded Dow in 2007, continued to diversify the company’s fund offerings, lowered costs and fees for many of the funds, and expanded the distribution channels that sell the funds.
In 1987, Lord Abbett moved its headquarters from Wall Street to the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City, where it would stay for the next decade. In 2000, Lord Abbett moved its headquarters to Jersey City, New Jersey.
As of December 31, 2015, Lord Abbett managed $125.5 billion in assets, which includes about $1.5 billion for which Lord Abbett provided investment models to managed account sponsors.
International Products
In May 2014, Lord Abbett launched a suite of UCITS [Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities] funds to provide non-U.S. institutions and non-U.S. resident investors with access to select Lord Abbett investment strategies. The funds are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.