BOSTON (Reuters) - Och-Ziff Capital Management is putting a new generation into top leadership positions roughly five months after bringing in an outsider as chief executive to end a battle for control of the investment firm.
The New York-based firm told investors in a letter sent on Thursday and seen by Reuters that Jeff Lin had been promoted to head of U.S. equities, Ghassan Ayoub will run convertible and derivative arbitrage alone and Peter Wallach was named head of risk management. The firm invests $33 billion.
David Windreich, who founded Och-Ziff with Dan Och in 1994, will retire, leaving James Levin as the firm's sole chief investment officer.
The announcement is the strongest illustration to date that Robert Shafir, who joined as CEO in February, is revamping the once-vaunted investment firm, whose reputation was tarnished by a cheating scandal and rocked late last year when a succession plan laid out by one of its founders exploded.
Och had tapped Levin to succeed him but abruptly changed his mind late last year, telling investors it was "not the right time" to promote Levin to the top job.
Besides Windreich, two other top executives will leave the firm this year. Hal Kelly, who ran convertible and derivative arbitrage with Ayoub, is as retiring and Zoltan Varga, who oversees investments in Asia, will formally retire at the end of July.
At the same time, Och-Ziff told clients that it will no longer make private equity energy investments and that its small team of professionals will leave the firm later this year.