Shelterwood sees silver lining in economy's clouds

FWR Staff

17 December 2008

Turmoil for transglobal players could mean growth for high-end independents. New york-based multifamily office Shelterwood Financial Services sees opportunities for expansion in an ongoing financial crisis that has undermined investor confidence in big-name financial institutions.

" there will always be role for a broad range of competitors, we believe the deck is tilting in favor of firms without all the distractions and conflicts encountered by large institutions," Shelterwood's CEO William Rankin told the U.K. trade journal Wealth Bulletin.

Over there

He added that Shelterwood has been getting more interest from families in its ultra-high-net-worth sweet spot since Bear Stearns' demise as a standalone company last winter.

Right now the five large, multigenerational families Shelterwood advises are based in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. But the firm sees particular growth opportunities in Europe. This past summer the firm hired Tara Duffy as a managing director to work with directly with families on investment-strategies and to take a hand in bringing in new business. Duffy, a veteran portfolio manager and private banker, has worked with clients Europe as well the Americas to construct, implement and monitor tailored investment portfolios.

"The evolution of the global markets has created a complex array of risks and opportunities for ultra-high net worth families to manage their capital wisely," Rankin said in July 2008. "Ms. Duffy's extensive experience working with both traditional and non-traditional strategies and advising both onshore and offshore families is particularly well suited to our practice."

New York-based Highmount Capital, another high-end investment advisory, recently established an office in Amsterdam in a bid to strengthen family-office services to its European clients.

And Lowenhaupt Global Advisors, a St. Louis, Mo.-based multifamily office, has just opened an office in Australia -- and it has plans to establish additional offshore offices in campaign to boost advisory services to non-U.S. and multi-jurisdiction families.

Shelterwood, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the J.M. Huber Corporation, was established in 2004. J.M. Huber, an engineering, energy and timber company, is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the U.S. -FWR

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