The Boston Company Asset Management, LLC (TBCAM), a Boston-based BNY Mellon boutique that invests in active equity, has launched two new strategies for institutional investors – an energy infrastructure strategy that utilizes master limited partnerships (MLPs) and an event-driven absolute return strategy. To manage these offerings, TBCAM has brought on an experienced team that founded and managed Pine Cobble Capital, LLC, along with their existing strategies and assets.
The energy infrastructure strategy invests primarily in companies that own and operate midstream assets, such as pipelines, terminals and processing facilities, which have long useful lives and offer attractive rates of return. The strategy focuses on generating total returns through a combination of current yield, distribution growth, and the identification of catalysts that could affect cash flow and market perception. This strategy invests in MLPs, corporations that control MLPs or midstream assets, and other companies influenced by developments in U.S. energy infrastructure.
The event-driven strategy invests in a concentrated number of long and short positions with potential value drivers such as financial or corporate structure changes, operational restructurings, mergers and acquisitions or special situations. This strategy is focused primarily on U.S. small and mid-capitalization equities and also opportunistically invests across the capital structure in corporate credit securities.
Bart Grenier, chief executive officer and chief investment officer for TBCAM, said, “The launch of these two strategies significantly strengthens our alternative investment capabilities at a time when institutional investors are increasingly looking for new investment options. We believe the energy infrastructure sector presents a compelling opportunity for a catalyst-driven, total return approach due to the combination of attractive current yield, strong distribution growth potential, and a dynamic industry environment. Moreover, the bottom-up, value-oriented process employed by the event-driven strategy is a good fit with The Boston Company’s fundamental approach.”
The two strategies are managed by Robert A. Nicholson and Zev D. Nijensohn, who joined TBCAM in November, 2014, as senior managing directors and senior portfolio managers from Pine Cobble Capital LLC, which they co-founded in 2007. The team will continue to take the same approach it utilized at Pine Cobble and has transitioned the strategies and assets it managed to TBCAM.
Prior to co-founding Pine Cobble, Nicholson served as a managing director and general partner at Spectrum Equity Investors, a private equity firm focused on media, communications, business and consumer services, and technology. Previously, he was a consultant at Bain & Company. Nicholson received his bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from Williams College and an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School.
Nijensohn was previously a senior analyst at Empyrean Capital LP, a multi-strategy event-driven hedge fund, where he covered telecom, media, financial services and business services. He also was a research analyst at Shumway Capital, a principal at Spectrum Equity Investors, and a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Robertson Stephens. Nijensohn holds an AB in history from Dartmouth College.
“Fundamental analysis is core to what we do, and it’s also at the core of The Boston Company,” said Nicholson. “We look forward to contributing our knowledge and experience and believe TBCAM’s platform enhances our ability to deliver attractive returns to a broader client base,” Nijensohn added.