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Albourne submitted to its regulators its plans to establish an EOT in February 2025. On 27 August, the newly formed EOT completed its purchase of a majority stake in Albourne from the firm's co-founders.
This transaction represents the fulfilment of Albourne’s aspirations to become a multigenerational firm without jeopardizing its mission or independence.
“We see Albourne’s EOT as an important milestone on our “Road Less Traveled”: it enshrines our values and our commitment to the non-discretionary path”, explains John Claisse, Albourne’s CEO. “While many other consultants prioritize discretionary opportunities, we do not run OCIO mandates, funds of funds, interval funds to access retail investors, co-investment funds, hedge or private market funds. We never want to compete with our clients.”
“My fellow co-founders and I had absolutely no interest in trying to capture a once-off personal gain from auctioning off a control premium”, Simon Ruddick confides. “We didn’t see that as being in the best interest of our clients or colleagues. We hope that we will not be remembered for this opportunity cost, but rather for the legacy that we hope that this will create.”
“I would like to thank our co-founders, shareholders, option-holders and our excellent external advisors, Fieldfisher, for all making this transaction possible”, adds Albourne’s deal-lead and Executive Committee member, Gaurav Amin. “Likewise, I would like to express my personal gratitude to our CFO, Heeral Shah, and Legal Counsel, Charlie Willison for their tireless commitment to completing this deal.”
Mark Gearing, Partner at Fieldfisher, said: "Helping Albourne navigate the legal and structural complexities of this transition has been a rewarding experience. The move to employee ownership reflects a forward-thinking approach to governance and succession, and we commend Albourne for taking this bold step. It’s a model that fosters long-term resilience and shared purpose, and we’re delighted to have played a part in bringing it to fruition."
We are pleased to announce the formation of Albourne's Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) Board which will be chaired by external director Jason Lane. Jason is a senior tax specialist with years of experience advising private clients and owner‑managed businesses on personal and corporate taxation, including complex CGT and IHT planning. His blend of valuation, forensic, and tax expertise will strengthen trustee scrutiny of valuations, distributions and compliance in line with evolving EOT best practice. In addition to Jason, the EOT Board will comprise of Simon Ruddick, Debra Ng, John Claisse, Anita Kouzapa, Heeral Shah and Gaurav Amin. We look forward to working closely with Jason to ensure that the EOT is a success.
In relation to this transaction, we would also like to announce some changes to Albourne’s Board of Directors.
- Simon Ruddick will step down as Chair, but remain on the Board.
- Debra Ng will assume the role of Chair. Debra has been on the Board since 2017. She is the Region Head of Asia having joined the firm in 2006.
- Guy Ingram, co-founder, will be stepping down from the Board.
- Andrew McCulloch, Region Head of the US, and Meropi Stavrou, Head of HR, have joined the Board. Andrew joined the firm in 2007 and Meropi joined in 1999.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Debra, Andrew and Meropi.
While all three co-founders, Simon Ruddick, Guy Ingram and Sam Lewis, will continue to work for the firm, we must express our most especial thanks to them for crafting our vision, for building our foundations, and for hereby entrusting our firm to the management and employees of today.
The EOT epitomizes Albourne’s constancy of mission, values, and culture. Please let us know if you have any questions.
ABOUT ALBOURNE:
Albourne[1] was established in London in March 1994 as an independently owned adviser specializing in alternative assets. Albourne’s mission is to empower our clients to be the best investors that they can be, by providing advisory services, research, implementation support and data, news & analytics. With over 350 clients,[2] including leading public and corporate pension plans, endowments, foundations, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and financial intermediaries, we benefit from the quality and scale of our clients, which have over $750bn[3] invested in alternative assets. Albourne is one of the largest alternatives advisory firms, with 600+ employees, including 400+ analysts, in 11 offices around the world.
WEBSITE: www.albourne.com
CONTACT: Clare Cuming, Head of Communications: contactus@albourne.com
[1] “Albourne” and “we” refer to the group of companies comprising Albourne Partners Limited and its subsidiaries.
[2] The aggregate number of client entities for the Albourne Group worldwide. Clients may be subscribed to multiple services. All numbers are as of 1 January 2025.
[3] This is a conservative aggregation of the estimated investments in alternatives (where known) of Albourne Group clients worldwide, using public sources where possible.
