Bob Kendall, who replaced Cooper Abbott as president in April 2021, brings more than 25 years of asset-management experience to this wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond James Financial RJF. Carillon officially formed in late 2015 as a holding company of boutiques but draws its origins to Eagle Asset Management, founded in 1976 as a private wealth solution for Raymond James clients. Eagle (and later Carillon) acquired partial and full stakes in five other asset managers over the last decade—most recently, Chartwell Investment Management. These acquisitions leave a compact lineup of funds that has some pockets of strength, but with room for investment-process, distribution, and fee improvement.
As with most multiboutique leaders, Kendall must walk a fine line in rejuvenating and improving this lineup. Each affiliate has its own investment culture, but it is unclear how autonomous each boutique is. For instance, Carillon replaced Scout Investments with ClariVest Asset Management on its international fund in early 2022 after a bout of poor performance and concerns around the use of Carillon’s centralized risk-management resources. Further, the fund is set to merge into one already managed by ClariVest in July 2022.