The progression from managing retail ("mug punters") to institutional funds is a very well-trodden path in funds management. It's almost necessary, in fact - institutions rarely back fund managers who don't have long track records of providing returns to investors, so it's almost a default that newly formed fund managers focus firstly on retail investors and/or HNWIs.
BLA reflects this trend - three years ago they had almost no institutional capital, and now it's 40% of their AUM and growing rapidly. I think looking at the historical composition of capital and deal structures risks missing the forest for the trees, to be honest - going forward, BLA will likely have the majority of its AUM in large institutional mandates, with lower fees than retail offerings - the lower fees will likely be offset by much higher AUM (a lot easier to scale institutional rather than retail capital).
BLA Price at posting:
$10.40 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
