Pzena was founded in 1996 by Richard Pzena, who was Director of U.S. Equity Investments and Chief Research Officer at Sanford C. Bernstein.[2][4] Pzena is known for managing value equities. Its investment strategies include large cap, emerging markets, European, global, and mid cap.[5]
Despite under-performance during the bull market of the late 1990s, Pzena outperformed during the challenging market years of 2000–2002.[6]
Pzena has subadvised John Hancock Financial's Classic Value fund since 1996.[7] In 2002, John Hancock Financial acquired the Pzena's Focused Value Fund.[8]
Vanguard has had a relationship with Pzena since 2005 where Pzena was selected to manage several of its funds.[9] These include the Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund, Windsor Fund and Selected Value Fund.[9][10]
In October 2007, Pzena filed an initial public offering to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).[11] It was the first investment company to go public that year "since the summer swoon rocked credit markets and impacted global stock markets."[11][9]
On July 27, 2022, Pzena announced that the firm entered into a transaction to delist from the NYSE to become a private company.[7][14][15] The firm will do an all-cash share repurchase at $9.60 per share which was a 49% premium over the closing share price at the time.[7][14][15] On October 10, Pzena received regulatory approval to complete the transaction to go private.[16] On October 31, Pzena completed the transaction to delist from the NYSE and became a private company.[17]
In 2023, Richard Pzena stepped down from managing the firm and was succeeded by Caroline Cai.[18]
