Legg Mason completes merger of Permal and EnTrust Capital

Legg Mason announced Monday it had completed a merger between Permal, its hedge fund platform, with New York City-based EnTrust Capital, another hedge fund and alternative investment firm that has about $12 billion in assets under management.

The Baltimore-based money manager announced in January its plan to combine the two companies, and also announced stakes in two other financial management companies, New York City-based Clarion Partners, a diversified real estate investment firm, and New Jersey-based Precidian Investments, which creates financial products such as exchange-traded funds and the systems behind them.

The new combined company will be called EnTrustPermal. Legg paid about $400 million for the stake in EnTrust and has said restructuring costs related to the merger would be $100 million.

EnTrust manages assets for more than 450 institutional accounts and has more than $4 billion in partnerships with institutional investors.

cwells@baltsun.com