Man Group Agrees to Buy GLG to Expand Range of Funds

Man Group Plc, the biggest publicly traded hedge fund firm, agreed to buy GLG Partners Inc. for $1.6 billion to reduce its reliance on a single trading program and expand its range of funds.

GLG’s shareholders will receive $4.50 in cash for each share, 55 percent more than the firm’s closing price on May 14, Man Group said in a statement today. GLG executives will get Man Group shares worth $4.25 each that they must hold for at least two years. Co-founder Pierre Lagrange and two other executives will get as much as $335 million in stock, company filings show.