AllianceBernstein [see profile] CEO Peter Kraus appears on the cover of the latest issue of Barron's. The article, penned by Michael Shari, delves into Kraus' efforts to turn around AllianceBernstein, which was hit harder than most of its peers in the financial crisis. Since Kraus' arrival at the end of 2008, he embarked on a process to improve investment performance, tried to focus the firm on products such as market neutral and target- date funds, and cut the firm's headcount by 15 percent.

The article notes two key steps Kraus took last year: he started regular sessions that brought investment and sales teams in the same room and he transformed the company into a partnership.

Kraus also told the pub where the opportunities are. "DAA (Dynamic Asset Allocation) and target-date funds for us are big opportunities in retail," he said.

Meanwhile, the firm is getting ready to roll out the Global Market Neutral Fund. The retail mutual fund was launched internally in August and its external rollout is "imminent," Bob Keith, head of AllianceBernstein's retail business, told the pub.

Readers of the Barron's piece will also learn about Kraus' love of art.

"Kraus owns a lavish post-modern abstract art collection housed in a palatial five-bedroom Park Avenue apartment that he bought for $37 million at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, the same year Merrill Lynch gave him a $25 million bonus for three months' work as a strategist prior to its sale," Shari writes, adding that Kraus' 39th floor office at AllianceBernstein is "filled with European and American sculpture and paintings." 

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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