(Bloomberg) -- It took 30 years, but Lee Ainslie is now the sole owner of Maverick Capital, the hedge fund firm he started along with the family of Texas businessman Sam Wyly.

Wyly’s son, Evan, stepped down as a partner of Dallas-based Maverick in April, upon selling his minority interest to Ainslie, according to a person familiar with the situation. 

The stake, which Wyly held through a company called Marmalade, equaled at least 10% but less than 25% of the firm, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The SEC’s registration system only requires owners of money managers to disclose ranges for the size of their stakes. The value of the holding wasn’t disclosed. At the end of last year, Maverick had $7.4 billion of assets under management, including leverage.

Ainslie, a value-oriented stock-picker, has been the face of Maverick for years. The firm is one of several Tiger Cubs — so-called because they were founded by proteges of Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson.

Evan Wyly and Maverick spokesman Fraser Seitel declined to comment. 

The Wylys approached Ainslie in 1993, after he had been working at Robertson’s firm for about three years, to propose that they team up to start a money-management business. Reluctant at first, Ainslie knew he eventually wanted to run his own firm and accepted the proposal, according to Hedge Hunters, a book by Bloomberg’s Katherine Burton. Maverick launched on Oct. 1 of that year, the day before Ainslie’s wedding. He was 29 at the time. 

Warford’s Role

Initially, Ainslie ran a stock portfolio and the Wylys focused on an opportunistic strategy that included trading stocks and bonds. The firm later decided to concentrate solely on stocks, and Ainslie took over the entire portfolio in 1995. He bought out the elder Wyly, a former chairman of arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels Stores, about two years later.  

As of two years ago, Maverick’s largest principal owners were Ainslie and Andrew Warford, who joined the firm in 2013 and assumed responsibility for stock-picking and day-to-day trading. Warford left in early 2021 to start his family office in Minnesota and sold substantially all of his interest in Maverick to Ainslie at the end of that year, the person said. That made Ainslie the firm’s largest shareholder, according to documents filed with the SEC at the time.

While Evan Wyly initially helped run Maverick’s administrative side, he hasn’t been involved in the firm’s day-to-day operations for years, according to the person familiar with the situation. He remains an investor in Maverick’s funds and continues to participate in the firm’s philanthropic efforts.

Maverick’s flagship hedge fund climbed about 19% this year through May, another person said.

--With assistance from Katherine Burton.

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