 | |
| Company type | Partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Investment management |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
Key people | Andrew Telfer, Senior Partner |
| AUM | £225 billion (2024) [1] |
Number of employees | 1,839 (2022) [2] |
| Website | www |
Baillie Gifford & Co is a British investment management firm which is wholly owned by partners, all of whom work within the firm. It was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1908 and still has its headquarters in the city. It has corporate offices in New York and London.
Baillie & Gifford WS was formed in 1907 [3] as a partnership between Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Baillie and Carlyle Gifford. Initially, it was a law firm but the financial climate of the time led to the business switching its emphasis to investment in 1908. In 1909, Baillie & Gifford created the Straits Mortgage and Trust Company Limited [4] to lend money to rubber planters in Malaya and Ceylon. [5]
The Straits Mortgage and Trust Company Limited was renamed The Scottish Mortgage and Trust Limited in 1913, [6] and this was followed by the introduction of several other investment trusts. Baillie Gifford’s clients and staff emerged relatively unscathed from the First World War, and the ‘Roaring Twenties’ gave Gifford many opportunities to expand the firm’s investment business. By 1927, the transition of Baillie & Gifford WS from a firm of solicitors conducting institutional investment business to a partnership managing investment trusts was completed with the creation of Baillie Gifford & Co. [7]
Baillie Gifford took over the management of Monks Investment Trust and two other related companies in 1931. [8] The firm continued to grow steadily until the outbreak of the Second World War. [9]
Baillie died in 1939 [10] and, the following year, Gifford was posted to New York on UK Government business. However, the firm survived the war and the troubled investment climate which followed. After a period of strong growth in the firm’s staff and client base, Gifford retired in 1965 [11] at the age of 84. Baillie Gifford emerged from a further period of economic weakness in the UK during the 1970s with its position enhanced by growth in the amount of money it managed on behalf of clients. [9]
Assets under management continued to grow strongly during the 1990s. The firm altered the management structure when it reverted to having joint senior partners. [12]
By the time of its centenary in 2008, Baillie Gifford had offices in New York and London in addition to its headquarters in Edinburgh, and was managing more than £50 billion. Clients included five of the seven largest pension funds in the US and the firm had also attracted significant levels of business from Japan and Australia, as well as continuing to make inroads in other parts of the Far and Middle East. [13] Baillie Gifford sponsors the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction books. [14]
In 2015 Baillie Gifford opened an office in Hong Kong under the subsidiary Baillie Gifford Asia (Hong Kong) Limited 百利亞洲(香港)有限公司. [15]
The company launched the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust in 2018 [16] and, after Baillie Gifford secured the management of Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc in 2020, the latter trust announced that would change its name to the Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust. [17] After a purchase on 31 March 2022, Baille Gifford became the largest shareholder of Ginkgo Bioworks. [18]
Baillie Gifford was a long-standing sponsor of literary festivals around the UK. However, in 2023, an open letter signed by over 50 authors threatened to boycott the 2024 Edinburgh International Book Festival because of the firm's investments in "corporations that profit from fossil fuels". [19] In May 2024, both the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Hay Festival announced that they would suspend their sponsorship deals with Baillie Gifford in response to these threats, with Hay referring to "claims raised by campaigners and intense pressure on artists to withdraw". [20] [21] In June, Baillie Gifford announced that it had ended all of its remaining sponsorship deals with literary festivals, funding that amounted to approximately £1M per year. [22] [1] The winner of the 2024 Baillie Gifford prize, Richard Flanagan, declared that he would not accept the prize money until Baillie Gifford indicate how they will decrease their association with fossil fuel and put more towards renewable energy. [23]
Investment trusts managed by Baillie Gifford:
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its motto "All the best stories are true", the prize covers current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts. The competition is open to authors of any nationality whose work is published in the UK in English. The longlist, shortlist and winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges, which changes every year. Formerly named after English author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, the award was renamed in 2015 after Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm and the primary sponsor. Since 2016, the annual dinner and awards ceremony has been sponsored by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place during two weeks in August every year in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Described as The largest festival of its kind in the world, the festival hosts a series of cultural and political talks and debates, along with a well-established children's events programme.
Legg Mason was an American investment management and asset management firm headquartered in Baltimore, founded in 1899 and acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments as of July 2020. As of December 31, 2019, the company had $730.8 billion in assets under management, including $161.2 billion in equity assets, $420.2 billion in fixed income assets, $74.3 billion in alternative assets, and $75.1 billion in liquidity assets.
Alliance Witan plc, formerly Alliance Trust plc, is a publicly traded investment and financial services company, established in 1888 and headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It is one of the largest investment trusts in the UK.
Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust is a large British investment trust dedicated to investments in companies operating in Continental Europe. The company was established in 1972 as Foreign & Colonial Eurotrust.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is a publicly traded investment trust. It invests globally, looking for strong businesses with above-average returns. Scottish Mortgage is managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited, the Edinburgh-based investment management partnership. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Aberdeen Asset Management plc was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 14 August 2017 when, as a result of a merger with Standard Life, it became a subsidiary of the renamed Standard Life Aberdeen.
Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Charles Baillie, DSO was one of the founders of Baillie Gifford, one of the United Kingdom's largest investment managers.
Thomas Johnstone Carlyle Gifford was one of the founders of Baillie Gifford, one of the United Kingdom's largest investment management firms.
Hugh Hendry is a Scottish hedge fund manager and podcaster.
The Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust is a publicly traded investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Trust, also known as EWIT, invests in global stock markets. The Trust is managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited, the Edinburgh based investment management partnership. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The Baillie Gifford Japan Trust is a publicly traded investment trust. The Trust invests exclusively in Japan. The Trust is managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited, the Edinburgh-based investment management partnership. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The Pacific Horizon Investment Trust is a publicly-traded investment trust. The Trust invests in the markets of the Asia Pacific region and of the Indian Sub-continent. The Trust is managed by Baillie Gifford, an Edinburgh-based investment management partnership. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The Scottish American Investment Company is a publicly traded investment trust. It invests in a broad range of UK and international assets. The Scottish American Investment Company is managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited, the Edinburgh-based investment management partnership. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon is a publicly traded investment trust which invests in Japanese smaller companies. The Trust is managed by Edinburgh-based investment management partnership Baillie Gifford & Co Limited. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Sir John Calman Shaw was a Scottish businessman, chairman of the board of directors and Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1999–2001, deputy governor from 1991–1999 and a non-executive director from 1990–2001.
Ginkgo Bioworks is an American biotech company founded in 2008 by five scientists from MIT, headed by Jason Kelly. The company specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria with industrial applications for other biotech companies, saving other companies the cost of reproducing the initial stages of design in synthetic biology. The self-proclaimed "Organism Company" was one of the world's largest privately held biotech companies, valued at $4.2 billion in 2019. It raised $290 million in September and $350 million in October of that year. Ginkgo Bioworks went public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC merger on September 17, 2021.
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust is a large British investment trust. Established in 2018, it is dedicated to investments in United States-based companies. The Chairman is Tom Burnet. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It is managed by Edinburgh-based investment manager Baillie Gifford. The managers are authorised to have up to 50% of the portfolio invested in unlisted companies, a higher proportion than some other investment trusts.
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