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Ex-Submariner Surfaces as Billionaire on Charles River Takeover

Ex-Submariner Surfaces as Billionaire on Charles River Takeover

(Bloomberg) -- Peter Lambertus is used to keeping a low-profile.

A former officer in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine force, he founded investment data and analytics software provider Charles River Systems Inc. in 1984. Even as his company’s platform has grown to the point where its users manage more than $25 trillion, he’s largely kept off the radar.

Until now.

State Street Corp.’s $2.6 billion purchase of Charles River has revealed Lambertus, 72, as one of the richest people in Massachusetts. He owns almost all of the equity in Charles River, and the company’s website states it carries no debt, meaning Lambertus could walk away with as much as $1.8 billion from the deal after tax, according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

"The founder here owns virtually all the equity," said State Street President Ron O’Hanley on this morning’s earnings call. "There’s very little that he doesn’t own."

Charles River Development and Lambertus didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lambertus previously worked at Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. and studied electrical engineering at Purdue University, where Lambertus and his wife have donated at least $1 million to the university, according to an April 2018 board of trustees meeting.

Charles River had about $300 million in revenue in 2017 and provides solutions to automate front-and middle-office investment management functions. The Burlington, Massachusetts company serves more than 300 clients across institutional, wealth, asset owner and alternative market segments, including 49 of the top 100 asset managers.

For State Street, the acquisition "is a strategic move to accelerate front- and middle-office expansion," according to Bloomberg Intelligence. But they’re paying a full price, which "will only become financially attractive with all benefits realized." Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, is a competitor in offering financial software to clients.

The deal, though, sunk State Street shares, which fell 7.6 percent as of 10:30 a.m. in New York, wiping $2.6 billion from the bank’s market capitalization.

--With assistance from Peter Eichenbaum.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Metcalf in New York at tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net;Charles Stein in Boston at cstein4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Alan Mirabella

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.