Barings sues Corinthia over “corporate raid” of private credit team
The high-profile battle between Barings and Corinthia Global Management has escalated into legal action over what is alleged to be “one of the largest corporate raids at an asset manager in years”.
Investment manager Barings is suing Corinthia Global Management and former employees Ian Fowler and Kelsey Tucker, after the newly formed private credit firm hired more than 20 of its employees, according to Bloomberg.
Corinthia, which is backed by Nomura Holdings, officially launched last Thursday, focused on corporate direct lending.
Barings’ lawsuit accuses Corinthia of “one of the largest corporate raids at an asset manager in years” and alleges Fowler and Tucker of misusing confidential information to recruit Barings employees.
As part of the lawsuit, Barings is seeking to stop Corinthia from poaching more employees, block it from soliciting Barings customers and is claiming damages resulting from the team lift.
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“There are a lot of assumptions in there,” a Corinthia spokesperson told Bloomberg. “Corinthia will review the documents and our lawyers will respond.”
A Barings spokesperson said: “Barings has today commenced legal proceedings seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent them from continuing to target our clients and employees, and stop the ongoing misappropriation of our trade secrets and confidential information.
“This legal action has been taken as a result of the defendants’ blatant disregard of their fiduciary and contractual obligations, which goes against Barings’ codes of conduct and ethics. Barings will not sit idly by and allow the defendants’ misconduct to occur.”
Corinthia had approached Barings and its parent company MassMutual about buying certain Barings assets and overseeing some of its portfolios, Bloomberg previously reported.
Both Barings and MassMutual “have unequivocally rejected” Corinthia’s term sheet and said they have no interest in a deal, according to the lawsuit.
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