A New England boutique recently rolled out its third ETF.

Richard "Rick" Tomney Little Harbor Advisors, LLC Managing Director

The team at Marblehead, Massachusetts-based Little Harbor Advisors (LHA) has launched the LHA Market State Tactical Beta ETF (MSTB). The launch comes after they debuted their second ETF back in May and then shut down their first ETF in June.

"We partnered with Little Harbor back in the beginning of this year," Mike Thompson, co-founder and CFA of Thompson Capital Management (TCM), tells MFWire. TCM is a subsidiary of LHA. Thompson says of the partnership: "[The LHA team was] interested in a couple of our separately managed account strategies, in packaging them up and putting them in an ETF wrapper. We had good products and strategies, they had the ability to go down the ETF route. It's a good marriage."

Rick Tomney , managing director at LHA, tells MFWire that the partnership with Thompson is like "a match made in heaven." He says: "We were introduced to [Thompson] last year and we started going through their strategy. We really liked what they were doing. They had the investment piece, but didn't have the infrastructure around them. They had great product, we had what they needed."

Both of LHA's current ETFs' strategies are managed by Thompson Capital. Tomney tells MFWire that LHA will continue to launch products in the ETF space.

"Our goal is to really talk to the RIA space and concentrate on family offices, RIAs, TAMPs, places where the decision making process is a little more centralized, the runway shorter, so you can really get involved with the investment folks. We really think that these strategies are very compelling in the sense that they really enhance most asset allocation strategies," Tomney says. "ETF strategies and SMA strategies seem to work much better in that type of environment, plus they provide better liquidity. You can only invest once a day in a mutual fund and you can control your destiny more in an ETF space."

LHA is a boutique investment firm with approximately $250 million in AUM. The LHA team is focused on alternative investment strategies.

"Our primary focus is looking at managers who are up and comers and have the investment piece nailed down but are trying to learn their way through the complexities of the back office, mid-office, and compliance and distribution," Tomney tells MFWire. "We look for managers who like to invest and we do everything else. That's been our primary strategy."

Foreside's Quasar serves as the new ETF's distributor. U.S. Bank serves as the ETF's administrator, custodian, and transfer agent. Morgan Lewis and Bockius is the fund's counsel, and Cohen & Company is the fund's accounting firm. Mike Thompson and Matthew Thompson PM the fund. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE