Man Group to cut as many as 200 jobs

Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010
Author: Sakthi Prasad, Reuters

British hedge fund firm Man Group Plc (EMG.L) is planning to cut as many as 200 jobs over the next six months, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The job cuts, which include staff positions and consultants, comes soon after its acquisition of smaller rival GLG Partners this month, the Journal said.

Man Group could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.K. business hours.

The planned cutbacks, which would be among the largest at a major hedge fund firm in recent history, will primarily come from layoffs. However, some cuts will also come from attrition and by not renewing consultants' contract, a person told the Journal.

The planned job reductions are several times more than Man had projected when it announced the GLG deal in May. The combined firm currently has about 1,800 employees, according to the paper.

Man spokesman David Waller told the Journal that the previously announced $50 million of savings included layoffs in addition to other cost cuts.

But he declined to provide details relating to the job cuts, the newspaper said.

London-based Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, has about $63 billion of funds under management.