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sary of Certain Defined Terms
“AllianceBernstein” – AllianceBernstein L.P. (Delaware limited partnership formerly known as Alliance Capital Management L.P., “Alliance Capital”), the operating partnership, and its subsidiaries and, where appropriate, its predecessors, Holding and ACMC, Inc. and their respective subsidiaries.
“AllianceBernstein Investments” – AllianceBernstein Investments, Inc. (Delaware corporation), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AllianceBernstein that services retail clients and distributes company-sponsored mutual funds.
“AllianceBernstein Partnership Agreement” – the Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of AllianceBernstein, dated as of October 29, 1999 and as amended February 24, 2006.
“AllianceBernstein Units” – units of limited partnership interest in AllianceBernstein.
“AUM” – assets under management for clients.
“AXA” – AXA (société anonyme organized under the laws of France), the holding company for an international group of insurance and related financial services companies engaged in the financial protection and wealth management businesses.
“AXA Equitable” – AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (New York stock life insurance company), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of AXA Financial, and its subsidiaries other than AllianceBernstein and its subsidiaries.
“AXA Financial” – AXA Financial, Inc. (Delaware corporation), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AXA.
“Bernstein GWM” – Bernstein Global Wealth Management, a unit of AllianceBernstein that services private clients.
“Bernstein Transaction” – on October 2, 2000, AllianceBernstein’s acquisition of the business and assets of SCB Inc., formerly known as Sanford C. Bernstein Inc., and assumption of the liabilities of that business.
“Exchange Act” – the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
“ERISA” – the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended.
“General Partner” – AllianceBernstein Corporation (Delaware corporation), the general partner of AllianceBernstein and Holding and a wholly-owned subsidiary of AXA Equitable, and, where appropriate, ACMC, Inc., its predecessor.
“Holding” – AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (Delaware limited partnership).
“Holding Partnership Agreement” – the Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Holding, dated as of October 29, 1999 and as amended February 24, 2006.
“Holding Units” – units representing assignments of beneficial ownership of limited partnership interests in Holding.
“Investment Advisers Act” – the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.
“Investment Company Act” – the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
“NYSE” – the New York Stock Exchange, Inc.
“Partnerships” – AllianceBernstein and Holding together.
“SCB” – SCB LLC, SCBL and Sanford C. Bernstein, a unit of AllianceBernstein Hong Kong Limited, together.
“SCB LLC” – Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC (Delaware limited liability company), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AllianceBernstein that provides Bernstein research services in the United States.
“SCBL” – Sanford C. Bernstein Limited (U.K. company), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AllianceBernstein that provides Bernstein research services primarily in Europe.
“SEC” – the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Securities Act” – the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
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PART I
Item
Business
The words “we” and “our” in this Form 10-K refer collectively to Holding and AllianceBernstein, or to their officers and employees. Similarly, the words “company” and “firm” refer to both Holding and AllianceBernstein. Where the context requires distinguishing between Holding and AllianceBernstein, we identify which of them is being discussed. Cross-references are in italics.
We use “global” in this Form 10-K to refer to all nations, including the United States; we use “international” or “non-U.S.” to refer to nations other than the United States.
We use “emerging markets” in this Form 10-K to refer to countries considered to be developing countries by the international financial community and countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (“MSCI”) emerging markets index. As of December 31, 2010, examples of such countries were Brazil, Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
We use the term “hedge funds” in this Form 10-K to refer to private investment partnerships we sponsor that utilize various alternative strategies such as leverage, short selling of securities, and utilizing forward contracts, currency options and other derivatives.
Mission
Our firm’s mission is to be the most trusted investment firm in the world by placing our clients’ interests first and foremost, utilizing our research capabilities to have more knowledge than any other investment firm, and using and sharing knowledge better than our competitors to help our clients achieve financial peace of mind and investment success.
Clients
AllianceBernstein provides research, diversified investment management and related services globally to a broad range of clients, including:
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institutional clients, including unaffiliated corporate and public employee pension funds, endowment funds, domestic and foreign institutions and governments, and various affiliates;
retail clients, including U.S. and offshore mutual funds, variable annuities, insurance products and sub-advisory relationships;
private clients, including high-net-worth individuals, trusts and estates, charitable foundations, partnerships, private and family corporations, and other entities; and
institutional investors seeking high-quality research, portfolio analysis and brokerage-related services, and issuers of publicly-traded securities seeking equity capital markets services.
We also provide distribution, shareholder servicing and administrative services to our sponsored mutual funds.
Our high-quality, in-depth research is the foundation of our business. We believe that our global team of research professionals gives us a competitive advantage in achieving investment success for our clients.
Our research disciplines include fundamental research, quantitative research, economic research and currency forecasting. In addition, we have several specialized research initiatives, including research examining global strategic changes that can affect multiple industries and geographies.
Products and Services
We offer a broad range of investment products and services to our clients:
To our institutional clients, we offer separately-managed accounts, sub-advisory relationships, structured products, collective investment trusts, mutual funds, hedge funds and other investment vehicles (“Institutional Services”);
To our retail clients, we offer retail mutual funds sponsored by AllianceBernstein, our subsidiaries and our affiliated joint venture companies, sub-advisory services to mutual funds sponsored by third parties, separately-managed account programs sponsored by financial intermediaries worldwide (“Separately-Managed Account Programs”) and other investment vehicles (collectively, “Retail Services”);
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To our private clients, we offer diversified investment management services through separately-managed accounts, hedge funds, mutual funds and other investment vehicles (“Private Client Services”); and
To institutional investors, we offer research, portfolio analysis and brokerage-related services, and, to issuers of publicly-traded securities, we offer equity capital markets services (“Bernstein Research Services”).