Toronto-basedSprott Inc. (TSX: SII) says veteran portfolio manager Whitney George has agreed to join Sprott as senior portfolio manager.
He will be based in New York and will be a key contributor to the expansion of Sprott’s business in the United States, Sprott says.

George has spent the last 23 years in senior roles at Royce & Associates LLC in New York. He was co-chief investment officer of Royce from 2009 to 2013 and was most recently managing director and portfolio manager. In his time at Royce, he was instrumental in helping to build the firm into one of the largest and most respected small-cap managers in the U.S.

“I am excited to be joining Sprott and look forward to contributing to its performance-oriented culture, while adding to its product and geographic diversity,” said George. “In doing so, I intend to personally build a significant equity stake in Sprott, an organization that I have come to admire as an institutional investor.”

Sprott also announced that it has executed a letter of intent with Royce to support the transfer of the management contracts of two U.S. funds with total AUM of approximately $285 million to Sprott, subject to investor and regulatory approval.

“Whitney is joining Sprott because he believes we have the potential to continue expanding our business both in the US and internationally,” saidPeter Grosskopf, CEO of Sprott.

“He is bringing two existing funds to our platform, which we expect to be immediately cash-flow positive to Sprott and support the expansion of our U.S. growth plan. Whitney will play a key role in helping to elevate our profile outside of Canada, while also supporting the growth of our institutional business.”

Sprott is an independent asset manager dedicated to achieving superior returns for its clients over the long term. The company currently operates through five business units: Sprott Asset Management LP, Sprott Private Wealth LP, Sprott Consulting LP, Sprott Resource Lending Corp. and Sprott U.S. Holdings Inc.

Last week, Sprott Asset Management announced the hires of two other portfolio managers. James Bowen and Jonathan Weisblatt will begin at the firm next month. The two most recently worked at JC Clark Ltd. in Toronto. (See Sprott hires two portfolio managers, investmentexecutive.com, November 7, 2014.)