Products December 8, 2014

BNY Mellon Boutique Launches New Institutional Strategies

The Boston Company Asset Management unveiled two new strategies for institutional investors in the areas of energy infrastructure and event-driven absolute return.
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New fund offerings from The Boston Company Asset Management (TBCAM), a Boston-based BNY Mellon boutique that invests in active equity, offer institutional investors exposure to an energy infrastructure strategy that utilizes master limited partnerships (MLPs) and an event-driven absolute return strategy. 

To manage these offerings, TBCAM has brought on a new team that founded and managed Pine Cobble Capital, LLC, along with the firm’s existing strategies and assets.  

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According to TBCAM, the energy infrastructure strategy invests primarily in companies that own and operate “midstream assets, such as pipelines, terminals and processing facilities, which have long useful lives and offer attractive rates of return.” The strategy focuses on generating total returns through a combination of current yield, distribution growth, and the identification of catalysts that could affect cash flow and market perception. This strategy invests in MLPs, corporations that control MLPs or midstream assets, and other companies influenced by developments in U.S. energy infrastructure.

The event-driven strategy invests in a concentrated number of long and short positions with consideration of potential value drivers such as financial or corporate structure changes, operational restructurings, mergers and acquisitions or special situations. This strategy is focused primarily on U.S. small and mid-capitalization equities and also opportunistically invests across the capital structure in corporate credit securities, according to TCBAM.

Bart Grenier, chief executive officer and chief investment officer for TBCAM, says the launch of these two strategies “significantly strengthens our alternative investment capabilities at a time when institutional investors are increasingly looking for new investment options.” He adds that the energy infrastructure sector presents a compelling opportunity for a catalyst-driven, total return approach due to the combination of attractive current yield, strong distribution growth potential, and a dynamic industry environment.

The two strategies are managed by Robert Nicholson and Zev Nijensohn, who joined TBCAM in November 2014, as senior managing directors and senior portfolio managers from Pine Cobble Capital LLC, which they co-founded in 2007. The team will continue to take the same approach it utilized at Pine Cobble and has transitioned the strategies and assets it managed to TBCAM.

More information can be found at www.bnymellon.com.

Data & Research December 8, 2014

Survey Underlines Lack of Investing and Financial Planning

A poll of 2,000 consumers in the United States finds more than four in 10 (42%) aren’t investing any assets for long-term savings or expenses in retirement.
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Americans feel saving for retirement can be difficult and confusing, as well as challenging to begin, according to a recent survey report from GetRichSlowly.org. The analysis shows past experience plays a key role in how active people are in the investment and retirement planning process.

For example, people who have lived through three or more major recessions are the most likely (19%) to take a hands-on approach to their day-to-day portfolio management. This compares with 10% of those who have seen two major recessions taking an active hand in their own portfolio management, and just 6% and 3% of adults who have lived through one recession and zero recessions, respectively.

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When more widely defining “hands-on investors” to include those who offer some guidance to their adviser about how they want to see their money invested, as well as those who actively monitor their investments or at least check them quarterly, 67% of those that have been through three recessions have a hands-on investment strategy. Conversely, those who have had little or no experience with economic downturns were less likely to be investing at all.

According to GetRichSlowly.org, which provides investing and financial analysis and reporting, fewer than one in 10 (8%) Americans create parameters for how their financial adviser should direct their assets based on their own individual knowledge or research. This compares with 16% who “let others invest for me.”

Among the more surprising results is that the category “index funds” was not one of the top two investment strategies cited by those that said they do invest, with only 12% saying they currently hold index funds. Only 15% of U.S. investors say they review investment allocations at least quarterly, according to the survey, and just 7% say they currently pay for active supervision of their investments.

GetRichSlowly.org contributor William Cowie concedes that many consumers may not fully understand their own holdings. He adds that the lack of financial finesse and a reasonable long-term plan can have serious consequences down the line. Cowie says the youngest groups of Americans polled have the most to gain by investing early, “even if it’s just in a certificate of deposit.”

“It’s easy to take a glass half-empty approach to the data,” he says. “However, it’s encouraging that almost 30% of those in their mid- to early 20s are taking responsibility for their future, even while they’re making the lowest wages of their career.”

Further analysis of the survey results, and other GetRichSlowly.org research, is presented on the firm’s blog.

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