The firm specializes in high-conviction, actively managed, and growth-oriented strategies designed to complement an investor's core equity and fixed-income exposure. Historically, Driehaus has had the most success with small-cap and emerging-markets strategies. Most managers on these offerings boast long tenures and demonstrate alignment with their clients by investing heavily alongside them, and Driehaus mitigates key-person risk by naming multiple managers to strategies. The firm also has a good record of further protecting investors by closing strategies before they get too large.
Along with these strengths are concerns worth monitoring. For instance, there have been several product liquidations over the past decade in asset classes outside the firm's traditional areas of strength, like larger-cap U.S. stocks, international equities, and fixed income. This casts doubt on current products outside the team's established expertise. Because a perpetual trust linked to the Driehaus family estate owns the firm, Driehaus gives incentive to portfolio managers through revenue-sharing rather than equity, which is less common. In addition, portfolio manager and research analyst compensation could place a greater emphasis on longer-term performance.