About Bayview Asset Management

History

1978

1978 Sanford Robertson founded Robertson Stephens & Company (hereinafter referred to as “RS＆Co”) , an investment bank specialized in growing start-up companies. It was the beginning of a boutique type of financial company.
1986 Randy Hecht established RS Investments（hereinafter referred to as “RSIM”）as the investment management arm of RS&Co, boutique-house asset management firm specialized in investing innovation.
1990 Ken Yagi, current President and CEO, met Sandy Robertson when he worked for Nomura Securities. He was determined to establish a boutique-style financial company.

1998

January 1998 Ken Yagi established RS Asset Management as a 100% subsidiary of Robertson Stephens&Company
February 1998 Registered as an Investment Advisory Company at Kanto Local Finance Bureau, started providing active investment management services of U.S. equity
July 1999 Formed the exclusive business alliance in Japan with Crosslink Capital, Inc. (founded in 1989 as a venture capital arm of RSIM) , a venture capital firm, based in San Francisco
December 1999 Licensed as a Discretionary Investment Management Company by the Financial Reconstruction Committee, and entered into the pension fund management business
December 2000 Formed the exclusive business alliance in Japan with Horsley Bridge Partners LLC, a private equity firm, based in San Francisco

2002

April 2002 Acquired the majority equity ownership (90%) of the company from RS Investments through management buyout and build long term and stable business foundation. At the same time, the company formed exclusive alliance with RSIM on its distribution in Japan
June 2002 Licensed as an Investment Trust Management Company by the Prime Minister of Japan
July 2002 Started investing Japanese equity by ourselves and launched a Japanese equity hedge fund
June 2003 Appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of Japan Investment Advisers Association for 7 terms consecutively until 2010. Reappointed in 2012 and in 2015, and serving the position continuously since 2019.
January 2007 Changed its company name from RS Asset Management Japan Co., Ltd. to Bayview Asset Management Co., Ltd.
January 2007 The 10th anniversary
April 2008 Formed the Board of Executive Officers (currently Management Committee), that acts as decision-making committee for business execution

2011

April 2011 Recruited new graduates from university for the first time since its establishment
March 2013 Obtained the SOC (Service Organization Control) Reporting on our internal control over discretionary investment management business from an external independent auditor.
July 2013 Launched its first public investment trust for retail investors
December 2013 Started managing a proprietary multi-asset strategy based on quantitative modeling approach. Launched AAA series fund (Active Asset Allocation Fund).

2016

July 2016 Bayview Asset Management formed exclusive alliance in Japan with multi-boutique asset management firm, Victory Capital Management Inc., based in Cleveland. Identified its management strategy as an independent multi-boutique asset management firm in Japan
March 2017 Number of employees exceeded 50 and AUM exceeded 300 billion yen
January 2018 The 20th anniversary
August 2019 Information Security Management System (ISMS) Certification (ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (JIS Q 27001:2014)) obtained from an ISO certification body

2020

December 2020 Formed an exclusive alliance in Japan with Siegfried Capital Group based in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
August 2023 Formed a partial exclusive alliance in Japan with Fasanara Capital Ltd., based in London.
1979
The second oil crisis
1985
Plaza Accord
1991
Collapse of the bubble economy
1997
Asian currency crisis
1997
Yamaichi Securities bankruptcy
1998
Russian financial crisis
1999
Debut of European Single Currency, Euro
1999
Introduction of Zero interest rate policy
2000
IT bubble burst
2006
Livedoor Shock
2007
Global Financial crisis
2008
Lehman Shock
2011
Great East Japan earthquake
2012
Implementation of Abenomics
by the Second Abe cabinet
2014
End of Quantitative Easing Stimulus program by US Federal Reserve Board
2016
Introduction of negative interest rate policy by BOJ
2016
Brexit

1978:
It all started in the San Francisco Bay Area

Bayview Asset Management's story started when Ken Yagi, President, and CEO, met Sandy　Robertson, a founder of Robertson Stephens & Company(RS), which had been a specialized financial group established in 1978 focusing on growth industries such as technology and healthcare/biotechnology, particularly in the neighboring Silicon Valley.

RS Investments, an investment management arm of RS, was based in San Francisco, specializes in small-cap, to seek innovation, as a pioneer of boutique-style asset management in the US. Since its inception, RS Investments has stuck to its motto: "Stay Ahead of Wall Street". With superior fund managers who have edges in fundamentals analysis, it has delivered remarkable performances and is highly regarded by investors. Silicon Valley has grown with RS Investments, and RS Investments has grown with Silicon Valley.

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1998:
A new tide in Japanese asset management from Hanzomon inTokyo

Bayview Asset Management was established by President and CEO Ken Yagi as a 100% subsidiary of RS Investments in Hanzomon, where is independent geographically from business area of major financial institutions.

BVAM got its start as a pioneer in Japan's boutique asset management, a concept based on the idea that a transformation was necessary for the prevalent "department store" model in the industry. The founding precepts of RS Investments were passed down to BVAM through its dedication to quality client services and superior performances achieved by focusing on select areas under well-established investment philosophies.

Since its establishment, BVAM had been working together with RS Investments and other independent boutique asset management houses in the U.S., providing specialized investment advice on U.S. equity to institutional investors in Japan. After registering for Discretionary Investment Management Business in December 1999, BVAM entered the pension market, and in September 2001, became one of the first companies to obtain a subsidiary business permit for foreign currency exchange. In July 2002, BVAM began managing its own Japanese equity fund. BVAM has emerged as Japan's only specialized asset management company that actively manages both Japanese and U.S. equity as well as currency (Investment management services for currency funds are concluded in November 2013).

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2002:
Became independent via MBO

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.

The employee sharing program (Profit Sharing) started in 2002. Any officer or employee who has worked at BVAM for over a year is privileged to participate in the ownership of the company. We became a fully independent, employee-owned asset management firm, which is a rare existence in the industry in Japan.

With 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 asset management firm. "Bayview" comes from the San Francisco Bay Area, the birthplace of RS Investments and the origins of BVAM.

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Started new graduate recruitment in 2011
Launched its first public investment trust for retail investors, and multi-asset fund to enhance proprietary product range

Bayview Asset Management (BVAM) refined its organization in April 2008 with the aim of stepping up from the emergence stage, which prioritized hiring employees with high potential and building its business foundation, to the next growth stage, which gives importance to nurturing each professional and integrating the organization.

The key point of this reorganization is a transfer of business execution function from each division headquarters overseeing some departments, which had been a legacy from BVAM's emergence, to the board of executive officers taking the central role. Under executive officers, all divisions are encouraged to share information and collaborate in providing top-tier and nimble investment services for the long term, while a flatter organization was realized with delegated responsibility and autonomy allowed to each division.

In April 2011, we started recruiting new graduates from university. This was aimed to balance the staff composition throughout the organization into the future, and we further made a long-term commitment as an asset management firm.

In March 2013, as part of its endeavor to strengthen governance and compliance, BVAM obtained service organization control (SOC) reporting from an independent external auditor, who conducted an assessment on the framework of the internal control of the discretionary investment management business at BVAM. In addition, BVAM launched its first publicly offered investment trust for retail investors in July, which is a signature fund that represents what the portfolio manager has to offer. Furthermore, in December of the same year, BVAM entered the multi-asset management business investing in different futures transactions marking a major step forward in the long-sought goal of developing new products.

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Formed the exclusive business alliance with Victory Capital Management Inc. in 2016
Bayview Asset Management has successfully established its position as a full-fledged multi-boutique asset management

In July 2016, Bayview Asset Management (BVAM) concluded the business alliance contract of exclusive operations (entrustment) in Japan with Victory Capital Management Inc (hereinafter referred to as "Victory Capital"), one of the most prominent multi-boutique style investment management firms in the U.S., led by the agreement on the transfer of the shares of RS Investments to Victory Capital by Guardian Investor Services LLC, which had been a major shareholder of RS Investments. Victory Capital is an asset management boutique that specializes various asset class based in San Antonio, Texas (previously Cleveland, Ohio) and was ranked 7th in “Barron’s Top Fund Families” for the five-year period ended December 31, 2019 and this is the sixth consecutive year that Victory Capital has been ranked among the top 25 fund families by Barron’s on a one-year basis. It is an independent multi-boutique asset management firm, providing attractive products which haven’t been offered in Japan.

Bayview Asset Management is determined to be Japan's first full-fledged multi-boutique asset management company by providing the product lineups that come from the brilliant asset management boutiques of Victory Capital and others in the United States, in addition to the existing product lineups in the areas of stocks, bonds, and private-assets based on the company's own business platform of providing high-quality client services, which BVAM has built-up since its inception. And BVAM continues to carry out its management style as a boutique investment firm run by a select group of professionals in pursuit of true quality in order to provide investor-oriented products and services under its completely independent management that is free from the controls of its affiliates or parent companies (such as sales companies).

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2020 : Expansion into private debt
Strengthening our position in private assets that have low correlation to market movements

Bayview Asset Management (BVAM)’s roots lie in Silicon Valley, a hometown for numerous leading venture companies that have driven next generations. For more than 25 years, BVAM has encouraged investments in high-growth innovation through close partnerships with boutique houses based in Silicon Valley. Since our inception, we have formed business alliances with two notable partners offering private equities, Crosslink Capital and Horsley Bridge Partners, and have contributed to the growth of investors’ assets by offering investment products that aim to achieve substantial long-term capital gains.

In December 2020, BVAM formed an alliance in Japan with Siegfried Capital, based in Hong Kong and Taiwan, to provide investment products that pursue attractive and stable income gains to Japanese clients who faced ultra-low domestic interest rates. Siegfried Capital is an asset management boutique house firm specializing in “Supply Chain Finance Strategy (SCF)”. SCF invests in trade accounts receivables from investment grade globally renowned companies across US, Europe, and Japan that are represented in the Fortune Global 500. When these companies import their products, SCF will then provide short-term cash flow solutions to small and medium-sized exporters based in China and Southeast Asia in exchange for account receivables, where SCF aims to achieve high yield relative to credit ratings. Through the partnership with Siegfried Capital, BVAM took an early lead in private debt, which is gaining traction as a new asset class.

In August 2023, BVAM partnered with Fasanara Capital, a market leader in digital lending, and established the “Fasanara/Bayview Receivables Note Fund” which invests in accounts receivables through 140 high-quality factoring companies sourced from across the globe.
Taking nearly a year to complete, BVAM developed the Fund together in collaboration with Fasanara Capital as an investment product for Japanese institutional investors.

Our goal is to achieve direct access to personal financial assets of 2,000 trillion yen without having to use distributors. “Dialogue between asset management companies and individual investors” has long been considered extremely difficult in Japan’s financial industry. Nevertheless, BVAM is confident that it will lead to great innovation and significant transformation within Japan’s asset management industry. With SCF as our first product to be directly sold to individual investors, we will launch a new challenge with the Silicon Valley spirit to achieve our dream.

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