Ivy Asset Management, the embattled hedge fund of funds, is shedding one of its most prized employee assets — Patrick Thomson — as it prepares to close down.
Thomson, its former global head of client development, is heading back to J.P. Morgan Asset Management as its global head of sovereign clients. The unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. needs a seasoned professional to oversee teams of client advisers who manage client relationships worldwide.
Thomson spent almost 10 years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management before joining Ivy in 2005, so he is already familiar with the company. In his first stint there, he was a managing director responsible for a global team that focused on sales and service to JPMorgan Chase's sovereign clients.
Based in Jericho, N.Y., Ivy Asset Management is — or, soon to be, was — a hedge fund of funds that had offices in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It was started in 1984, and when Ivy opened its Hong Kong office in February 2008, Thomson was the managing director and the head of client development for Europe-Middle East-Africa and Asia.
Recently, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Ivy Asset Management, saying two of its senior officers knew about dangers related to Bernard Madoff's investment firm but withheld information from investors.
Thomson was not implicated in the lawsuit.
"With his extensive experience in Europe and Asia and an impressive track record of developing advisory-based relationships with sovereign investors worldwide, Patrick brings a heightened focus and direction to our market-leading sovereign-client group," said Mary Erdoes, the chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
