Investment Roundup: Vise Expands Long Short Access
Vise, an artificial intelligence-powered wealth platform, announced that advisors can now run Vise Long Short in client accounts held at Interactive Brokers.
Vise Long Short is an extension of direct indexing. The portfolio holds a core of stocks expected to outperform and adds a short position in stocks expected to lag, while overall market exposure stays at 100% net long. The objective is a higher pre-tax return at market-level risk, including through daily tax-loss harvesting.
“Long short has been treated as a product for a select few. The problem it addresses is not. Plenty of clients are sitting on a concentrated position or a large embedded gain,” said Samir Vasavada, co-founder and co-head of Vise, said in a statement. “Our job is to make sure advisors can use the right strategy for the client in front of them, managed the same way wherever the account is held.”
On Interactive Brokers, advisors can implement Vise Long Short at four leverage levels, from 130/30 to 250/150.
Interactive Brokers joins Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, Raymond James, TradePMR and Altruist as custodians supported on the Vise platform.
Motive Partners, CC Capital to Sell Wilshire to Marsh
Private investment firms Motive Partners and CC Capital reached an agreement to sell investment advisory, solutions, data and analytics firm Wilshire to Marsh, a global professional services firm. Wilshire serves clients across wealth and retirement, alternatives, data and analytics, and OCIO and consulting.
Motive and CC Capital invested in Wilshire in 2021 and, over the last five years, worked to bring in new executive leadership, advance AI-enabled operating workflows, invest in product development, redesign the company’s go-to-market approach, rework its portfolio and complete strategic acquisitions of XTP, ParkLexington and Lyxor.
“Over the past several years, we have materially strengthened Wilshire’s platform, expanded our capabilities and sharpened our focus on the needs of our clients,” Wilshire CEO Jason Schwarz said in a statement. “We are grateful for our partnership with Motive Partners and for the commitment of our employees, clients and board. Joining Marsh’s Investment business will enable Wilshire to build on that progress and continue delivering independent insight, investment solutions and technology-enabled services to clients globally.”
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Milliman Healthcare Inflation ETFs Available to HSA Bank Account Holders
Milliman Inc.’s Milliman Healthcare Inflation ETFs are now available to HSA Bank health savings account holders who participate in the HSA Invest* program as an investment option.
The Milliman Healthcare Inflation Guard ETF (MHIG) and the Milliman Healthcare Inflation Plus ETF (MHIP) are designed to seek returns that are equivalent to or exceed the cost of U.S. healthcare over time.
HSA Bank is the first HSA to offer the Milliman healthcare inflation ETFs as part of its HSA Invest lineup of self-directed brokerage account investment options.
The ETFs were designed by Milliman’s health actuaries and investment risk managers, who work with insurers to help households, businesses and government entities manage the financial and economic risks associated with rising healthcare costs. According to Milliman, healthcare costs increased over 10% in the recent one-year period through June and about 7% on average over the past five years.
The active, multi-asset ETFs use Milliman Health Trend Guidelines to inform the portfolios’ return targets and allocations. This strategy seeks to provide consumers with a way to invest in healthcare and related stocks calibrated to hedge against rising healthcare costs. Using bonds and alternatives, the fund managers then aim to dynamically manage volatility to minimize portfolio losses during drawdowns in the underlying assets, which could prevent the ETFs from corresponding with healthcare cost inflation over time.
Columbia Threadneedle Launches Two New Laddered Buffer ETFs
Columbia Threadneedle Investments launched the Columbia RECS Laddered Moderate Buffer ETF (RECM) and the Columbia RECS Laddered Deep Buffer ETF (RECD).
The launch of these strategies marks Columbia Threadneedle’s entry into the laddered buffer ETF category. With this launch, Columbia Threadneedle now has 25 ETFs across equities and fixed income, with assets under management growing to $13.4 billion.
The RECM and RECD equity portfolios are paired with put option contracts, time-laddered (or staggered) quarterly, as part of a downside protection strategy designed to reduce the impact of targeted market declines while maintaining meaningful participation in rising markets.
“We think of the strategies as combining a strong engine with carefully designed brakes,” Brian Virginia, head of insurance investments and senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said in a statement. “The underlying equity portfolio seeks to drive long-term growth, while the hedging strategy is designed to reduce the impact of targeted potential market declines. Together, they aim to help investors stay invested and focused on pursuing their long-term goals.”
Both ETFs feature 0.69% expense ratios.
Lyrical Converts Two Mutual Funds to ETFs
Lyrical Asset Management has converted its U.S. Value Equity and International Value Equity mutual funds, representing more than $1 billion in combined assets, into ETFs. The newly converted funds trade under the tickers LYR and LYRI.
Shareholders of the predecessor mutual funds now own ETF shares following a reorganization intended to qualify as tax-free.
Lyrical U.S. Value Equity ETF (LYR) features a concentrated portfolio of approximately 33 companies selected from the 1,000 largest U.S.-traded stocks, seeking quality businesses with attractive long-term earnings growth potential among the market’s most deeply discounted stocks.
The Lyrical International Value Equity ETF (LYRI) includes a concentrated portfolio of 25–40 companies selected from a universe of approximately 1,500 large, developed-market stocks outside the U.S., applying the same emphasis on quality and value.
Manulife John Hancock Retirement, Great Gray to Launch Lifetime Blend+ Target-Date CITs with Private Markets Exposure
Manulife John Hancock Retirement announced a collaboration with Great Gray Trust Company LLC to offer Lifetime Blend+, a proposed new suite of target-date collective investment trusts that combine public markets and stable value with private equity, private credit, private infrastructure and private real estate.
Great Gray is expected to serve as trustee for Lifetime Blend+, providing the trust structure, fiduciary oversight and the operational infrastructure. Lifetime Blend+ is expected to allocate up to 20% to private markets, with the balance to Manulife John Hancock-affiliated collective investment trusts and stable value products.
The open-architecture portfolio design uses Manulife Investment Management’s in-house real estate team as well as its credit capabilities delivered through Manulife | CQS Investment Management and Manulife | Comvest Credit Partners. The portfolio’s private markets allocation is intended to include exposure to an equity solution managed by Apollo Global Management; infrastructure managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and StepStone Group; and real estate managed by Townsend, resulting in diversified private-markets exposure within a professionally managed target-date solution.
Cox Capital Partners Launches Interval Fund Transparency Project
Cox Capital Partners has created the Interval Fund Transparency Project, a repository of data tracking redemption demand and share repurchase activity among interval funds.
The Interval Fund Transparency Project will bring together repurchase histories, drawing on public filings, sponsor confirmations and shareholder-provided repurchase confirmations reviewed by Cox Capital.
Cox cited the fact that interval funds are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as non-traded business development companies as a driver for creating the database.
“While they report the shares they repurchased, in their shareholder reports and monthly filings, disclosure of total requests is entirely voluntary,” according to Cox. “Accordingly, the extent to which repurchase programs are oversubscribed is not universally available. Understanding a fund’s history of meeting repurchase requests, whether unmet requests are building up, and how new subscriptions compare with the shares being redeemed is critical for advisors to assess whether a fund’s liquidity profile aligns with their clients’ needs.”
Cox said it has provided certain fund sponsors with previews of their funds’ data in the repository, highlighting available information and known gaps, and inviting them to confirm or supplement the record.
