Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management

The listed structure traded at a persistent discount to net asset value, which attracted activist investors who pushed for an NAV-tender or liquidation. After years of shareholder battles, the board agreed to wind down the SICAV and return capital, while the founders continued managing assets in private credit strategies without the discount problem.

Emmanuel Boussard remains the Chief Investment Officer responsible for portfolio construction. He built the original arbitrage book at Paribas alongside co-founder Emmanuel Gavaudan, who now serves as CEO. The firm's decisions are concentrated across this small, partnership-scale leadership group.

It is structured as a traditional asset manager, not a family office. The firm was founded to manage third-party capital through a listed fund vehicle, which operated under the UCITS framework in Europe. The activist-driven wind-down of the fund does not change its fundamental character as a third-party manager.

The firm engages in both direct lending and distressed credit acquisitions, as well as commitments to specialized credit fund managers. This dual approach allows exposure to credit strategies that benefit from local origination networks while also pursuing proprietary deals in special situations.

The firm concentrates on private credit, special situations, and secondaries. This includes direct corporate lending, acquiring non-performing loan portfolios, and providing liquidity to investors in mature private equity vehicles. The common thread is exploiting illiquidity premiums that the old daily-dealing structure could not capture.

Historically, the firm sourced arbitrage and volatility trades through investment bank prime brokerage desks and synthetic derivative markets. The post-2023 credit strategy relies more on direct relationships with borrowers, intermediaries in European middle-market lending, and secondary market brokers for loan portfolios — a fundamentally different origination model.

The firm maintains substantive operations in both London and Paris. The London office historically managed the core trading operations and is likely the primary investment hub, while Paris serves as the legal domicile and CEO base. The dual presence reflects both the founders' French origins and the importance of London as a European credit-trading center.