Clearbrook Financial has taken a majority ownership stake in consultant Shields Associates by buying out shares owned by founder Joseph Shields, Jr. The deal closed June 7. “What the Clearbrook transaction does is really give us another arrow in our quiver to offer clients more services because we’ve been asked more and more to take discretion,” Bruce Graham, president of Shields Associates, explained.
Shields Associates will offer discretionary consulting using Clearbrook’s open-architecture asset management platform, technology, risk control, custody and reporting. “This allows us to integrate everything. This is using technology at its fullest,” Graham said. “It’s really the next step in consulting.” Of all the consultants Clearbrook has talked to, Graham and Shields Associates’ Dean Armstrong “were the most dynamically excited. They really got it,” said CEO John Morris. “We have a shared vision.”
Shields will become part of CBF Advisors, Clearbrook’s registered investment advisor division. “We’re still Shields Associates and we’re in control of our own destiny,” Graham noted. Clearbrook’s other division, Managed Account Services, LLC, houses its broker/dealer, custody and open-architecture manager platform. The platform so far includes 32 managers that together offer 104 strategies, plus 5,000 mutual funds, 78 hedge funds, and access to exchange-traded funds. Clearbrook is in discussions with other consultants that could use its platform and has an agreement with the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents more than 550 hospitals and other nonprofit organizations.
Joseph Shields said Clearbrook’s platform will allow Shields to seek smaller clients, and focus on client relationships and investment consulting. He has a minority stake in Clearbrook and will act as an adviser. Shields Associates has $7-8 billion in assets under advisement from corporate pension plans, nonprofits and high-net-worth individuals.