Firm Overview
Neuberger Berman was founded in 1939 to do one thing: deliver compelling investment results for our clients over the long term. This remains our singular purpose today, driven by a culture rooted in deep fundamental research, the pursuit of investment insight and continuous innovation on behalf of clients, and facilitated by the free exchange of ideas across the organization. Institutions, advisors, families and individuals across the globe have entrusted us with $304 billion of their capital as of December 31, 2018.
As a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, Neuberger Berman is structurally aligned with the long-term interests of our clients. We have no external parent or public shareholders to serve, nor other lines of business to distract us from our core mission. And with our employees and their families invested alongside our clients, - plus 100% of employee deferred cash compensation directly linked to team and firm strategies, - we are truly in this together.
From offices in 22 countries, Neuberger Berman takes an active approach to the management of equity, fixed income, private equity and debt, hedge fund and quantitative strategies, along with the multi-asset class portfolios that bring them together. With more than 500 investment professionals and over 2,000 employees* in total, Neuberger Berman has built a diverse team of individuals united in their commitment to investment excellence and dedicated to engagement in support of the material environmental, social and governance characteristics that Neuberger Berman believes help drive long-term returns for our clients. Our culture has afforded us enviable retention rates among our senior investment staff and has earned us citations as a top-ranked firm (among those with 1,000 or more employees) in the Pensions & Investments “Best Places to Work in Money Management” survey annually since 2013, ranking second in 2018.
Several key elements reinforce who we are:
Culture of Partnership and Innovation: As a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, Neuberger Berman has the freedom to focus exclusively on investing for our clients for the long term. As such, we are deeply attuned to each client’s distinct combination of investment goals, risk tolerance, and income and liquidity requirements, and we can act in partnership to address them as they change over time.
Inherent in this culture of partnership is a commitment to innovation, a firm-wide drive to uncover new solutions as markets and client needs evolve. Not merely innovation for its own sake, but rather the development of transformative concepts rooted in practical client applications. Since 1939 we have been on the forefront of a number of industry trends now considered commonplace—from the launch of one of the first no-load mutual funds to the early adoption of socially responsive investment techniques. As a firm, Neuberger Berman believes that material environmental, social and governance characteristics are an important driver of long-term investment returns from both an opportunity and a risk mitigation perspective. We also understand that for many of our clients the impact of their portfolio is an important consideration in conjunction with investment performance. We recognize ESG factors, like any other factor, should be incorporated in a manner consistent with the specific asset class and style of each investment strategy. We consider ESG factors across our investment platform and offer a range of solutions to meet client objectives.
Our commitment extends beyond our line-up of investment products. We look to collaborate with clients to overcome a variety of challenges, and we are proud to be a thought partner to our clients, offering access to our investment professionals, both in person and through our thought leadership publications, training and joint research projects.
Experience and Stability: Neuberger Berman – by design – attracts individuals who share a passion for investing and who thrive in an environment of rigorous analysis, challenging dialogue, and professional and personal respect. In a testament to the strength of the culture we have built—honed by nearly 80 years of markets and countless “once-in-a-lifetime” events—these professionals have tended to stay with the firm. This stability over time drives results and consistency of process.
On average, our lead portfolio managers have worked in asset management for more than 25 years, including an average of 16 years at Neuberger Berman. And while our clients benefit from the wisdom of our seasoned professionals, we are always looking to supplement their ranks with emerging talent. By enabling the transfer of knowledge, providing growth opportunities for skilled investors and building thoughtful succession plans, we seek to ensure a consistent client experience over the long term.
Breadth of Perspective: Our portfolio management professionals are critical, independent thinkers who benefit from being part of a global, diverse investment organization composed of more than 500 investment professionals with different perspectives on markets, economies and strategies. Clients benefit from the firm’s intellectual capital across investment disciplines—equity and credit, public and private, long and short, large and small—as our breadth of perspective bolsters individual conviction and often results in portfolios with high active shares and the potential for alpha generation.
We continue to value the free exchange of ideas in pursuit of insight that might otherwise go undiscovered. We host multiple forums in which our investment professionals can share research, test theories and expose to scrutiny their investment ideas. These include both formal assemblies—such as our various asset class investment committees and the cross-class Asset Allocation Committee, along with our various research teams—as well as informal connections initiated by like-minded professionals with a shared dedication to the pursuit of investment insight on behalf of clients.
* All information as of December 31, 2018 unless otherwise indicated. Firm data reflects the collective data for the various subsidiaries of Neuberger Berman Group LLC.