Managed account maker turns to quantitative indexed-investment innovator. San Francisco-based managed account provider Advisor Partners is planning to use IndexIQ's rules-based indexes as the basis for a new suite of investment portfolios for family offices, independent advisors and other wealth managers.

"Our approach of combining the benefits of indexing and the benefits of separate-account management has been embraced by the sophisticated wealth manager," says Dennis Clark, CEO of Advisor Partners. "The addition of these new strategies to our solution set gives us another highly attractive vehicle for meeting the needs of advisors and their clients."

Combination

Advisor Partners will launch its new IndexIQ program this summer.

Adam Patti, CEO of IndexIQ, says his firm's products "provide a bridge between traditional passive investing and the potential for alpha offered by the best active managers" and do so "at a lower cost than traditional managed accounts. We believe this combination of features will prove very attractive to Investment Advisory firms such as Advisor Partners going forward."

Rye Brook, N.Y.-based IndexIQ develops indexes and quantitative investment strategies based on proprietary methodologies. Its strategies include large-cap growth, core and value offerings, emerging markets, and small-cap value.

Clark, a veteran of Schwab, founded Advisor Partners in 2001 along with Barra co-founder Andrew Rudd, now Advisor Partners' chairman. Barra provides investment-risk analytics to asset managers.

Advisor Partners manages customized equity portfolios and provides turnkey asset-management platforms and customized portfolios for independent advisors, financial-service platforms and institutions. It managed $287 million in assets in March 2007. - FWR

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