NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asset manager Rithm Capital has agreed to acquire hedge fund firm Sculptor Capital Management for $639 million, the companies said in a statement on Monday.
Rithm will pay $11.15 per class A share of Sculptor, which represents a premium of 18% over Sculptor’s closing price on Friday.
Sculptor, once known as Och-Ziff Capital Management, had been exploring a sale since last year, amid a legal battle with its founder, Daniel Och.
Och accused his former firm in a lawsuit of letting Chief Executive James Levin wield power over the board to extract “ever-escalating” pay despite subpar performance. Sculptor in August 2022 called Och’s filing “misleading and full of falsehoods.”
Rithm’s chairman and chief executive officer, Michael Nierenberg, said the deal is “transformational.” The transaction will allow the company to expand beyond real estate and financial services and roughly double its assets under management to over $60 billion. Rithm also has $7 billion of capital.
Sculptor, which manages credit, private real estate equity and multi-strategy funds, will become a subsidiary of Rithm and continue to be led by Levin as chief investment officer.
In a note to clients, BTIG said the deal broadens Rithm’s “investment stance with the flexibility to put assets either on its own balance sheet as a direct investor, or leverage its asset management capabilities with third-party capital.”
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
