Legg Mason ready to move forward

Building on its founder's ethos, Legg Mason has evolved into a distribution specialist with a wide range of independently-operating affiliates

Investors do not need an especially long memory to think back to the point in the late 1990s when Johnson Fry became Legg Mason Investors - an outfit with a penchant for bright colours and hot sectors. But in the past five years, the firm - now known as Legg Mason Investments - has evolved into a distribution specialist focusing on an audience of professional buyers. In late 2005 the group acquired the worldwide asset management business of Citigroup Asset Management, which greatly enhanced its distribution presence. Legg Mason was created in 1970 after the merger of Legg & Co and Mason ...