An activist shareholder and longtime backer of a publicly traded, 2,000-employee, multinational asset manager is teaming up to try to take that fund firm private.

On Sunday (October 26), Nelson Peltz, CEO and founding partner of Trian Fund Management, L.P., and Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst Group Management, LLC, sent a letter to the board of directors of Janus Henderson Group plc [profile] to propose jointly buying the London-based asset manager. The Janus Henderson team publicly announced the offer yesterday (October 27) and filed about it.

General Catalyst and Trian are offering $46 in cash per share, a 10.5-percent premium over Janus Henderson's closing price on Friday (JHG on the NYSE). That translates into a total valuation of $7.2 billion, which in turn translates into about 1.6 percent of Janus Henderson's AUM of about $457 billion*. (Note that Trian and its affiliates already owned 20.4 percent of Janus Henderson prior to this week's offer.)

Artificial intelligence may be a key factor in this proposed deal. In the letter from Taneja and Peltz, the duo specifically highlight General Catalyst's Percepta, which was officially unveiled earlier this month as an "AI transformation company."

Trian and General Catalyst's proposed Janus Henderson deal comes three years after Ali Dibadj took over as Janus Henderson's CEO. The proposal also comes five years after Trian first invested in Janus Henderson, revealing what was then a 9.9-percent stake.

"When Trian first disclosed its investment in the Company in October 2020, the Shares were trading at $21.60 per Share, and the Company was consistently experiencing outflows in the mid-single digits. Since that time, the Company's board of directors ... and management team (led by CEO Ali Dibadj) have achieved a highly successful operational turnaround of the Company's business which today consistently generates positive net inflows while enjoying mid-30% operating margins," Peltz and Taneja write in their letter. "Our offer, which is 113% higher than the share price when Trian disclosed its investment, allows shareholders to crystalize the results of this turnaround at an opportune time when most U.S. equity indices are trading near record levels and at historically elevated valuation multiples."

Taneja and Peltz's letter reveals that the proposed deal would be financed with a mix of equity and debt. They also write that they expect Janus Henderson's board to appoint a special committee to consider the proposed deal.

*As of June 30, 2025. 

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