Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company, founded in 1804. The company employs over 5,000 people worldwide in 32 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Headquartered in the City of London, it is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Schroders bears the name of the Schröder family, a prominent Hanseatic family of Hamburg with branches in other countries. The Schroder family, through trustee companies, individual ownership and charities, control 47.93 per cent of the company's ordinary shares.
History
Schroders' history began in 1804 when Johann Heinrich Schröder became a partner in the London-based firm of his brother, Johann Friedrich. In 1818 J. Henry Schröder & Co. was established in London. During the American Civil War, Schroders "issued £3m bonds in 1863 for the Confederacy." Key events in the development of the business include the establishment of J Henry Schroder Banking Corporation as a commercial bank in New York in 1923, the public offering of the shares in J. Henry Schroder & Co. Ltd on the London Stock Exchange in 1959 and the acquisition of Helbert, Wagg & Co, a leading issuing house, in 1962. In 1986 the company disposed of Schrobanco, its commercial banking arm in New York and acquired 50% of Wertheim & Co., a mid-tier New York based investment bank, whose activities more closely mirrored those of the London business. Schroders played a leading role in the privatisations carried out by the UK Government in the 1980s and was to grow dramatically under Winfried Bischoff. Schroders was worth £30 million when he took over as CEO in 1984: yet in 2000 the company sold its investment banking division to Citigroup for £1.3 billion. Citigroup's European investment banking arm traded as Schroder Salomon Smith Barney from 2000 to 2003. In 2013, Schroders purchased the capital management arm of Cazenove in a deal worth £424 million.
Current operations
As at 31 December 2018, Schroders was responsible for assets worth £421.4 billion on behalf of clients including corporations, insurance companies, local and public authorities, charities, pension funds, high-net-worth individuals and retail investors.
Collaboration with universities
In June 2014, Schroders' Multi-Asset Investments and Portfolio Solutions announced a collaboration with Professor Anthony G. Constantinides, Director of the newly created Imperial CollegeFinancial signal processing Laboratory.
