ArrowMark, the advisor of the Meridian funds, maintains its focus on alternative-credit and small-cap equity investing. Managing partner David Corkins and the other founders specialized in alt-credit strategies at Janus before launching the firm in 2007. In 2013, ArrowMark diversified into small-cap equities when proven managers Chad Meade and Brian Schaub joined the firm from Janus. They now run nearly half of ArrowMark’s USD 21 billion in assets and are partners in the employee-owned firm. To prepare for his eventual (though not imminent) departure, Corkins has reduced his ownership in the firm to below 50% from nearly 75%. The firm now has six partners and five principal owners and plans to add more.
ArrowMark has managed its growth well. It closed Meade and Schaub's two strategies to new investors to preserve their edge and acquired StoneCastle Financial's closed-end fund as a vehicle for the firm's fixed-income capabilities. In 2019, it hired Kirk Reid, another Janus veteran then at Oppenheimer, to build out the firm's back-office resources. Given the firm’s attention to capacity constraints and the firm’s deliberately slim distribution team, ArrowMark is unlikely to see huge growth but is likely to continue to treat clients well.