Why they split: When private equity firm TA Associates moved to take a minority stake in First Eagle, de Lardemelle and de Vaulx say they feared the company would reopen their closed fund. Andy McLane, a partner at TA Associates, says the firm had no involvement in the decision, which was made by the fund's board, and that de Lardemelle and de Vaulx left for other reasons.
Today: De Lardemelle and some of his former colleagues launched their own company, International Value Advisors, in October 2007. "I had a difficult decision to make -- stay as a hired gun, or set up my own company," he says. De Vaulx joined a few months later. IVA now has $6 billion in assets. By the summer of 2009, its Worldwide (IVWAX) fund had already amassed $1.7 billion, surpassing the record for a new fund.
NEXT: Don Yacktman
