Following a “merger of equals” in May, headcount cuts have hit the C-suite at Janus Henderson, with more cost savings projected.
A number of Janus Henderson Investors’ executives are exiting the business — all former Janus Capital Group employees — the company confirmed in an email.
Janus Henderson’s chief operating and strategy officer, deputy chief operating officer, chief risk officer, and chief operating officer (Asia Pacific) are all leaving, while the global head of fixed income has moved to a subsidiary.
On Tuesday, the investment group reported cost savings of $57 million, its first results since the merger of Henderson Global Investors and Janus Capital completed in May. The company attributed the bulk of these savings to “a reduced combined headcount.” It anticipates further savings of at least $85 million by May 2018 and $110 million annually between May 2017 and May 2020, according to the press statement.
[II Deep Dive: Henderson CFO Says Job Cuts Loom in Janus Merger]
Jennifer McPeek, chief operating and strategy officer, is to leave at the end of October “to pursue personal projects,” while Deputy Chief Operating Officer Rich Tyson departs the end of September. Neither executive will be replaced.
Janus Capital’s former chief risk officer, David Kowalski, exits the newly combined business after working for Janus for 17 years. The corporation said it plans to fill that role.
Gigi Chan, former chief operating officer (Asia Pacific), left the business at the end of last month.
Kumar Palghat’s brief tenure as global head of fixed income has ended, but he will continue on at the company he co-founded, Kapstream, which Janus acquired in 2015. A spokeswoman said this was “due to personal reasons,” citing the “significant travel required between Sydney, London, and Denver” as a factor.
McPeek, Tyson, Kowalski, Palghat, and Chan did not immediately respond to requests for comment via LinkedIn.
In an interview, CFO Roger Thompson told Institutional Investor, “we are well on track. Where there was overlap, we have made those changes. In London and in Denver, those changes have happened. From a client point of view, the changes we have made are largely done.” Thompson said further work on operations and IT would happen over a period of “several years.”
Andrew Formica, co-chief executive of Janus Henderson, said the priorities for the ahead year would be building a strong corporate culture for the newly merged business and speaking to clients about investment returns.
“We have made great start with the business. The synergy benefits to shareholders are coming through faster than we thought and the balance sheet is strong,” Formica continued. “We have a hell of a lot more to do.”
In today’s results update, the company said assets under management stood at $345 billion at the end of June, up 4 percent on the legacy companies’ total from the prior quarter.
