L&S Advisors Overview
- 1. Risk Management Transcends Everything L&S Advisors, Inc. Investment Counsel
- 2. Our value-add to clients • Credentialed investment management experience • Active portfolio management that delivers absolute returns • State-of-the-art back office technology platforms • Direct access to the portfolio managers-to those making critical investment decisions • Experienced professional staff to support client relationships • Multi-cultural (Chinese) capabilities
- 3. What we think As the investment industry continues to evolve in ever-more complex ways, we remain convinced that clients need an investment firm that is scaled to provide institutional capabilities, while at the same time offering levels of sophistication, culture, and service that are most often found at boutique firms.
- 4. What we believe While enhancing returns is essential, we believe that it is through the active management of risk that greater success may be achieved for our clients.
- 5. What we do • We manage three types of portfolios: Growth, Growth & Income, and Income • We produce absolute returns by actively managing risk and employing tactical diversification • We strive to outperform the market by being an advisor who thinks strategically and executes tactically • We are seeking investment opportunities across global capital markets • We try to recognize good buying opportunities and attractive valuations • We are responsive to market conditions and adjust allocations as needed according to the level of risk we perceive in the market
- 6. What differentiates us We are driven by three things: a fiduciary responsibility to our clients, a commitment to protecting those clients’ assets, and the performance that we pursue for their investments. • We focus solely on portfolio management • We actively manage risk, not the market • We strive to create positive returns for our investors in any market condition • We are the fiduciaries making all investment decisions on behalf of our clients • We are not managers of managers—there are no intermediaries or 3 rd party products
- 7. How did we navigate the last 18 months? Towards the end of 2007, we noticed that structural changes within certain sectors of the stock and bond markets were taking place, as well as a weakening credit market. During the summer of 2008, it was obvious to us that the worst had not yet materialized in these markets, and that this bear market was vastly different from what had been experienced previously. As a result, we prepared our portfolios for deterioration in all forms of credit, as well as the potential impact on the broader economy.
- 8. The road we have traveled up to this point Sy Richard Lippman and Ralph R. Scott formed L&S Advisors in 1979. • The firm managed high net worth client portfolios in a variety of strategies including the use of options, risk, and deal arbitrage, as well as hedge fund strategies • In 1993 the firm acquired the money management arm of Imperial Bank • In 1997 L&S was acquired by Merrill Lynch, where Lippman and Scott managed portfolios with full discretion • In 2005 L&S Group was reformed as a division of FCA Corp. • L&S Advisors, Inc. was re-registered as an RIA with the SEC in 2006
- 9. L&S Advisors today Every great investor has a philosophy. Ours is a belief that attractive returns can be achieved by structuring portfolios that are distinct from the market indices. We believe that when active management strategies are too constrained by benchmarks, they will not produce significant alpha or satisfactory risk-adjusted returns over the long-term. This thinking runs contrary to broad industry assumptions about diversification. However, we are not alone. Consider this excerpted quote from Seth Glickenhaus, 95 year old founder of Glickenhaus & Co., when he states, “...you have to be extremely selective and concentrated. The greatest error made on Wall Street is diversification. Diversification inevitably leads to mediocrity and average performance.”* It is important to note that the conversation around “Diversification” should not be focused on whether to employ it or not, but to what extent it is employed. The primary objective at L&S Advisors is to achieve superior investment returns for our clients, not to track certain market indices. * BARRON'S, September 11, 2006
- 10. Summary • Credentialed investment management experience • Active portfolio management that delivers absolute returns • State-of-the-art back office technology platforms • Direct access to the portfolio managers — to those making critical investment decisions • Experienced professional staff to support client relationships • Multi-cultural (Chinese) capabilities