K2 Advisors

K2 Advisors is an American fund of funds investment firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Currently it is a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton Investments and is one of the largest fund of hedge funds in the United States. It has additional offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

K2 Advisors

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Investment Management
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
Founders	David Saunders William Douglass
Headquarters	Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Products	Fund of hedge funds
AUM	US$10.4 billion (July 2023)
Parent	Franklin Templeton Investments
Website	k2advisors.com

Background

K2 advisors was founded in 1994 by David Saunders and William Douglass.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} The firm was named after the K2 mountain in the Karakoram range where the pair attended a fundraiser to benefit a team to climb it.^[1][3][5] Saunders previously worked for Julian Robertson at the firm Tiger Management as Head Trader making K2 Advisors part of the Tiger Cubs group.^[1][5][6] Douglass previously worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.^[1]

Since 2006, K2 Advisors has been known to be investing in ESG securities as well as Insurance-Linked Securities.^[7]

In 2007 TA Associates acquired a minority interest in K2 advisors for an undisclosed amount of money.^[1][2][6][8]

In 2011, K2 Advisors considered selling the firm with The Carlyle Group being one of the main bidding frontrunners.^[1][2]

In 2012, K2 Advisors was acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments.^[2][3][4][6] K2 Advisors used the money from deal to buy out TA Associates stake which allowed Franklin Templeton Investments to have 100% ownership of K2 Advisors.^[2][4]

In 2019, K2 Advisors expanded its business to Europe with a new fund range which allowed local investors there to have access to U.S.-based fund managers.^[9]