Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Print
February 05, 2001 12:00 AM

PRINCIPALS BUY PRACTICE

InvestorForce divests Asset Strategy as it leaves the consulting business

Fred Williams
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Wayne, Pa. - InvestorForce.com will cut its ties to what remains of its consulting business and divest the remnants of Asset Strategy Consulting, a firm it acquired barely 10 months ago.

    Three InvestorForce principals will form Angeles Investment Advisors LLC, an independent consulting firm based in Los Angeles that will serve the remaining institutional consulting clients.

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed. InvestorForce will have no ownership interest in the new firm, which will be wholly owned by Leslie B. Kautz, Howard D. Perlow and Michael Rosen. All three were formerly partners at Asset Strategy Consulting.

    InvestorForce, which was formed early last year, acquired Los Angeles-based Asset Strategy Consulting LLC in March. Asset Strategy had about 45 employees at the time, of which about 35 made the transition to InvestorForce. About 20 are still at InvestorForce.

    Lawrence E. Davanzo, formerly managing director of Asset Strategy, is the last senior member of the consulting firm still at InvestorForce.

    At the time of the acquisition, Asset Strategy had around 50 clients. Angeles now will serve the 20 remaining clients, and will use InvestorForce's web-based search engine as its primary search database.

    Traditional services

    Angeles Investment Advisors will offer traditional investment consulting services, "including acting as a fiduciary," said Jim Morrissey, InvestorForce's president and chief executive officer. Angeles will deliver its services "by leveraging InvestorForce's Internet technology platform."

    He envisions Angeles as a prototype for how consultants should use InvestorForce's data, analytics and search capabilities. "It's safe to say that we will provide the foundation of their technology platform," he said, although Angles will be free to tap other manager databases as well.

    Since late last year, several former Asset Strategy partners who had become InvestorForce employees have left the company, including Jeff Winton, director of sales and client services. Former employees of Asset Strategy who have left in recent months include Andrew Rasmussen, manager and research director, who resigned to join money manager Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc., Santa Monica, Calif., and Peter Gunder, head of InvestorForce's insurance consulting practice, who left last year to join consultant Summit Strategies Group, St. Louis. Jon Williams, who helped build its the consulting marketing and sales practice, also has resigned but has not yet taken another job.

    Mr. Morrissey said the former employees "wanted to be consultants and that's not the direction we are heading." He said the "skill sets" at InvestorForce center largely on technology, sales and marketing.

    `Steady trickle'

    But one former InvestorForce official, who did not want to be named, said, "There has been a steady trickle of people leaving over the last several months. What people don't know is that it is not a bed of roses.

    "They need to take a really close look at the business plan and the revenue model. They have money coming in but it is all pro-forma. The last business plan was that they would make most of their revenue from Search Exchange (the InvestorForce online search engine) and that may have been sound for middle-market money managers without a distribution channel, but they don't have a good response from large money managers. They have good tools, good analytics and a sound search process, but large plan sponsors are not responding because of the fee structure and fiduciary concerns."

    Mr. Morrissey said divesting the consulting operation does not represent a capitulation to critics from the consulting community.

    "Because of the direction of our business in the last year, we are trying to be more focused on the technology and being an open platform to the industry and away from providing advice," he said. "It was never part of our model to expand into giving advice."

    Mr. Davanzo, executive vice president at InvestorForce, said divesting Asset Strategy Consulting 10 months after its acquisition "is consistent with what we planned from day one. It was never the intent to acquire Asset Strategy to be in the consulting business."

    Almost from the beginning, InvestorForce has been the target of consultants, money managers and plan sponsors over its shifting business strategies and in particular its revenue model, which includes charging money managers a fee of 5% of the first year's revenue if they are hired through InvestorForce's online search engine.

    Divesting the remnants of Asset Strategy will have no impact on the InvestorForce search process or pricing model, said a spokesman.

    InvestorForce officials have been sensitive to criticism, Mr. Davanzo said, but "we feel the momentum is shifting in the consulting community. They are increasingly interested in how to leverage the InvestorForce technology and are becoming more aware that we are contributors, not competitors."

    Training sessions

    Mr. Morrissey said more than 50 consulting firms have agreed to participate in a series of e-training sessions being hosted by the firm to familiarize them with its institutional portal and manager search process.

    But one consultant, who wished to remain unidentified, said InvestorForce's divesting its remaining consulting functions is "nothing major" and means "they are just taking a different approach." He said setting up Angeles using former InvestorForce employees is a transparent step to encourage consultants to adopt the InvestorForce model.

    "All they are trying to do is create a catalyst for using their platform," said the consultant. n

    %%

    Recommended for You
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Read the print edition of P&I
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    OCIO, Anchor in Rough Seas
    Sponsored Content: OCIO, Anchor in Rough Seas

    Reader Poll

    May 9, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Are Factors a Thing of the Past?
    Q2 2022 Credit Outlook: Carry On
    Leverage does not equal risk
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    Out of the Shadows: The Revolution in Shadow Accounting
    The pivotal role of fixed income markets in the ESG revolution
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    May 9, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
      • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference