Independent-advisor investment platform provider broadens manager universe. Adhesion Technologies, a Charlotte, N.C.-based wealth-management application service provider to independent registered investment advisors, is now offering Federated Investors' Strategic Value and Core Equity strategies to its investment advisor clients on its WealthADV unified managed account (UMA) platform.

"Having a big name like Federated distributing models on our platform says good things about our ability to attract top managers," says Michael Stier, Adhesion's president and CEO. "Their addition reflects our commitment to providing independent investment advisors with access to the nation's leading money managers within a customizable [UMA]."

Two birds

UMAs feature a combination of separately managed accounts (SMAs), exchange-traded funds and mutual funds in a single account. Generally speaking, UMAs have lower investment minimums than the aggregate minimums for comparably diversified portfolios of stand-alone SMAs. Their proponents also say that they streamline performance reporting to the client and allow for more personalized portfolio management.

Federated's Strategic Value is a high-dividend yielding equity income strategy that invests in stocks to provide income and long-term capital appreciation. It produces high dividend yield with a low correlation to the S & P 500 by providing downside protection when the market is weak and upside performance when it is bullish.

"Strategic Value is suited for high-net-worth investors looking to diversify into high-dividend yielding stocks that offer the opportunity to enhance both relative and absolute performance over time," says Bud Person, head of Federated's wealth-management and trust group.

Federated's Strategic Value strategy is "highly sought after and has performed very well," adds Stier. "We actually brought it in at the request of some of our clients."

Boston-based Federated managed assets of $237 billion at the end of 2006. -FWR

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