In April 2002, the Japanese management and employees acquired 90% of the Japan entity in a management buyout, thus ensuring the independence of operations and equity required for a long term, stable business infrastructure. By combining the three pillars of its corporate philosophy, namely specialty, quality services, and partnership, Bayview Asset Management (BVAM) has emerged as Japan's first fully-fledged boutique asset management company.

Even after gaining independence from our former parent company, RS Investments, we kept our original name, RS Asset Management, to maintain the "RS" brand. However, following the Guardian Life Insurance Company's acquisition of a controlling stake in RS Investments in September 2006, we changed our name to Bayview Asset Management (BVAM) in January 2007. Based on our desire to preserve stable, high-quality services over the long term, we chose to showcase the fact that the company was an independent, employee-owned asset management firm.

"Bayview" comes from the San Francisco Bay Area, birthplace of RS Investments and the origins of BVAM. In fact, we have been using the "Bayview" name for both our holding company and flagship Japanese equity fund since April 2002.

In March 2007, BVAM bought back 10% of its outstanding shares from RS Investments. The shares represented RS Investments' entire holding in BVAM, thus BVAM has hereby become a fully independent Japanese asset management boutique, which is a rare existence in the industry in Japan.