Ativo Research is announcing what appears to be a significant research and sub-advisory agreement with Trust & Fiduciary Management Services, a Boston-based trust firm which itself is a wholly-owned subsidiary of independent research firm Copell Financial. It appears that Ativo and TFMS already had a pre-existing relation, but this formal arrangement will enable the firms to collaborate on the development of a proprietary research product, which would combine Ativo’s quantitative equity valuation framework with fundamental company and industry insight from analysts at Copell Financial and TFMS. In addition, TFMS will be offering clients an international portfolio strategy sub-advised by Ativo. The full press release on the Ativo/TFMS/Copell deal can be found here.
It should be noted that Ativo is one of five members of BIR, an independent research consortium that benefited in the aftermath of the global equity research settlement. The settlement expires this year, and we will be monitoring developments at the other consortium members – Thomas White, Columbine, Channel Trend, and Ford Equity – as they prepare for a post-settlement research landscape.