Episode summary
This Firm Has Half a Trillion Dollars in AUM. Its CEO Spoke to Us. | At Barron's
At Barron's
· · Hosts: Andy Serwer · Guests: Ali Dibadj
Summary
Janus Henderson CEO Ali Dibadj argued that the firm’s combination of Janus and Henderson still makes strategic sense because the businesses brought together complementary strengths: Janus’s US growth equity heritage and Henderson’s global, fixed-income and institutional orientation. He said the common thread is deep research and using that research to generate alpha for clients, while the firm now operates as a global platform with 25 offices and two main hubs in Denver and London.
Dibadj made the case that active management is better suited to today’s market than broad passive indexing, given higher cost of capital, geopolitical uncertainty and rapid change in technology and demographics. He said Janus Henderson is not only defending active management in traditional funds, but also leading in active ETFs, including fixed income where it is the second-largest active ETF provider globally. He also described the firm as “vehicle agnostic,” willing to deliver strategies through mutual funds, ETFs, CITs and SMAs depending on client needs.
He said growth is coming from both organic inflows and acquisitions, including Victory Park Capital in asset-backed private credit and a non-U.S. direct lending push that begins in the Middle East. Dibadj emphasized that alternatives must be packaged carefully for retail and institutional clients, with the right vehicle, education and time frame. He said the firm’s latest regulatory AUM was 457 billion, and that the business is growing by meeting client demand across equities, fixed income, alternatives and global small-cap strategies.
Key takeaways
- Dibadj said Janus Henderson’s core edge is research-driven active management, not passive indexing, because today’s markets are more volatile and less stable.
- He said the firm is already a major player in active ETFs, including being the second-largest active fixed-income ETF provider globally.
- Dibadj said Janus Henderson’s growth is organic as well as acquisitive, citing Victory Park Capital and a Middle East direct-lending push.
- He said the firm’s latest reported AUM was 457 billion, and that not all AUM is equally valuable from a shareholder perspective.
- He argued that alternatives for retail investors must be carefully structured, with the right vehicle, education and client fit.
Notable quotes
“the industrial logic of bringing those two firms together actually made a ton of sense”
“We have 25 offices around the world including those two. We're a truly global firm”
“active asset management is the way to go. And that's what 350 people at Janice Henderson do all day long”
“we're vehicle agnostic, so to speak. We want to deliver the best investment strategies and the best client service to that client”
How the episode opens
Hello and welcome to At Barrens. I'm Andy Sir and welcome to our guest Ali Debage who is the CEO of Janice Henderson. Ali, nice to see you.
Thanks for having me Andy. So um most of our audience knows about Janice going back to when it was the go-go growth stock manager based in Denver. merged with Henderson in 2017 before you became CEO.
But why did the two firms combine again before your time, but I'm sure you know. Yeah. Um so the firms came together um close to 10 years ago now.
So it's been quite some time. Uh and and the industrial logic of bringing those two firms together actually made a ton of sense. Uh one firm Janice was a little bit more growthy in nature, a little bit more US equities focused, a little bit more intermediary and and and and retail focused.
uh Henderson uh a little bit more global had a little bit more fixed income, more core kind of investing. Uh and so bringing those and more institutional as well. Bringing those two things together made a ton of sense.
Um the the thread that tied them is still a thread that we have today as a firm and it's frankly a thread that we had when the firm started back to into 1934. about 91 years ago uh which is that really deep research understanding companies and using that to invest on behalf of our clients and making sure we create alpha make sure we create beneficial financial outcomes for our clients. Uh that's the thread that really tied these firms together that we have to this day.
In fact, our our director of research in the US always talks about knowing the companies we invest in better than the people who work at those companies.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- active vs passive management
- asset management
- global investing
- aum size
- ceo interview
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Janus Henderson
Watch the episode
Watch “This Firm Has Half a Trillion Dollars in AUM. Its CEO Spoke to Us. | At Barron's” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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