Partners Capital was founded out of the founders' negative experiences with major private banks, which they found to be rife with conflicts of interest, opaque fees, and a lack of analytical rigor. The firm was built to be the antithesis: a fully independent, transparent, and aligned Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO).
While initially inspired by David Swenson's "Pioneering Portfolio Management," Partners Capital has significantly evolved the model. Key adaptations include a sophisticated, data-driven risk management system to understand underlying factor exposures and a rejection of volatility-based budgets in favor of a static risk profile to avoid pro-cyclical trading.
The firm's process for selecting managers is exceptionally rigorous, resting on three pillars: assessing a team's experience ('reps'), a quantitative screen using a multi-factor replication benchmark that eliminates 95% of public equity managers, and a qualitative, psychometric assessment to identify the traits of successful investors.
Partners Capital maintains strong, conviction-led views on various asset classes. They have strategically avoided commodities, cryptocurrencies (outside of blockchain VC), and large platform hedge funds due to poor risk-reward profiles, unfavorable fee structures, or a lack of fundamental value.
Keep pulling the thread on Stan Miranda.