Jefferies says fund tied to First Brands collapse separate from investment banking business

Jefferies' JEF fund caught up in the collapse of First Brands is entirely separate from its investment banking business, its top executives said.

"The Point Bonita fund in asset management sits absolutely separate, distinct and apart from whatever happens in investment banking. Kind of Chinese Wall 101," Jefferies President Brian Friedman said at the bank's investor day on Thursday.

"The two have absolutely no relationship and, in fact the decision in 2019 of the asset management Point Bonita team to engage with First Brands, was absolutely away from independent and disconnected from anything on the investment banking side," he said, according a regulatory filing released on Friday.