7 October 2024
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Artisan Partners announced today the addition of Brian Louko as portfolio manager and Scott Bartley as director on the Artisan Partners International Value Group. In the coming months, Mr. Louko will build out the team and launch a strategy focused on global special situations and flexible capital opportunities.
The new strategy represents a natural expansion of degrees of investment freedom for the International Value Group. Mr. Louko will lead an investment team located in Boston focused on the principles of value investing with the objective of generating long-term wealth-building returns. David Samra, Founding Portfolio Manager of the International Value Group, will serve in an advisory capacity to Mr. Louko for the new strategy.
Prior to joining Artisan, Mr. Louko was a director at Benefit Street Partners, where he focused on distressed and special situations investing. Prior to that, he served as a research analyst at MAST Capital Management, advisor and CFO at Embed.ly, as well as director of capital markets credit risk at Fidelity Investments. Mr. Louko holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a focus on finance/accounting from Northeastern University and a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia Business School.
Mr. Bartley was previously a director at Paceline Equity Partners, where he led the corporate credit origination team, which is responsible for sourcing, negotiating and underwriting private loans to middle market borrowers across a broad range of industries and sectors. Prior to that, he held various positions, including at MAST Capital Management and Advent International, sourcing and evaluating potential long and short equity, high yield, leveraged loan and distressed opportunities for investment. Mr. Bartley holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University.
Regarding Mr. Louko’s and Mr. Bartley’s joining the Artisan Partners International Value Group, Mr. Samra said, “For many years we have tried to find the correct structure and the right talent that would allow us to take advantage of select situations that present alternative capital opportunities and offer the potential for equity-like returns. We believe that Brian and Scott are well positioned to lead that effort.”
Artisan Partners President Jason Gottlieb added, “We are excited for this opportunity to further build upon our first-generation International Value Group with this unique alternative investing strategy, led by Brian Louko. Brian brings a thoughtful and complementary value lens and utilizes additional degrees of freedom through an expansive investment opportunity set beyond equities, which we believe will be additive to the International Value Group.”
Investments will rise and fall with market fluctuations and investor capital is at risk. International investments involve special risks, including currency fluctuation, lower liquidity, different accounting methods and economic and political systems, and higher transaction costs that may cause a loss of principal. Fixed income securities carry interest rate risk and credit risk for both the issuer and counterparty and investors may lose principal value. In general, when interest rates rise, fixed income values fall. High income securities are speculative, experience greater price volatility and have a higher degree of credit and liquidity risk than bonds with a higher credit rating. Value securities may underperform other asset types during a given period.
This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer, an invitation or a solicitation for investment or subscription for shares of funds or investment services in any country. Any person who is in possession of this material is hereby notified that no action has or will be taken that would allow an offering of any Artisan Partners product or service unless in compliance with local regulations. Neither this announcement nor any other material relative to this announcement have been submitted to any local regulatory authority for prior review or approval. This material is intended for the recipient’s information and use only and may not be distributed or made available (in whole or in part) in any local jurisdiction, directly or indirectly, except as permitted by local law and regulation.
