A. Description of the Firm
MIO Partners, Inc. (“MIO”), a Delaware corporation, registered with the SEC as an investment
adviser under the Advisers Act in 1992. MIO is also a commodity pool operator (“CPO”)
registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) under the Commodity
Exchange Act, as amended (the “CEA”); an exempt commodity trading adviser (“CTA”); and a
member of the National Futures Association (“NFA”).
MIO is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of McKinsey & Company, Inc., a New York
corporation (together with its affiliates and subsidiaries, “McKinsey”). MIO is affiliated with MIO
Partners (UK) Limited (“MIO UK”) an investment adviser registered with the UK Financial
Conduct Authority (the “FCA”), MIO-Partners (EU) GmbH (“MIO EU”), an investment adviser
registered with the German Financial Services Supervisory Authority (the “BaFin”), and MIO-
Partners (EU) GmbH, Sucursal en España (“MIO MAD” and together with MIO US, MIO UK,
and MIO EU, the “Firm”), a branch of MIO EU registered with the National Securities Market
Commission (“CNMV”). MIO is headquartered in New York, New York, and maintains offices
in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hong Kong SAR. In addition, the Firm maintains offices in London,
Hamburg, Munich, Madrid, and Singapore. As of December 31, 2022, the Firm had approximately
205 employees worldwide.
MIO is governed by a Board of Directors (the “Board”). The MIO Board includes independent
directors and former McKinsey partners. The Board governs and oversees MIO’s operations. The
Board guides MIO’s investment strategy, process, and the types of products offered. It approves
performance benchmarks, monitors investment performance, oversees risk and compliance, and
determines compensation. The Board is also responsible for setting risk limits and supervising
adherence to MIO policies. The Board delegates investment decisions to MIO’s investment
professionals, while establishing the risk and trading parameters under which the investment
professionals may act. The Board does not decide which managers to hire and does not influence
the investment decisions those managers make.
B. Types of Advisory Services
MIO currently provides both discretionary and non-discretionary investment management and
advisory services:
MIO provides investment management services on a discretionary basis to (i) privately offered
investment vehicles (together with the feeder funds, aggregators and similar entities managed by
MIO, the “Private Funds”) established primarily for (a) current and former partners of McKinsey
and such persons’ immediate family members and (b) certain qualified MIO employees; and (ii)
the McKinsey Retirement Trust (the “Retirement Trust”), a pension plan sponsored by
McKinsey, other McKinsey pension or benefit plans and investment vehicles established to
facilitate investments by the Retirement Trust and other plans. The Retirement Trust is a funding
vehicle for the McKinsey pension or benefit plans. Participants in the plans determine the
allocation of the plans’ assets to the various investment portfolios of the Retirement Trust (each, a
“Portfolio”). MIO is responsible for investing the assets of each Portfolio. MIO manages the
Portfolios in compliance with the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).
MIO provides investment management services - as manager, managing member, general partner,
or investment manager – to the Private Funds. Unlike open and closed-end mutual funds that are
registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment
Company Act”), the Private Funds are not registered as investment companies with the SEC and
are therefore not subject to the various provisions (except as provided below) of the Investment
Company Act. Interests in the Private Funds are not registered for sale under the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and are instead sold to qualified investors on a private
placement basis. The Private Funds generally require that investors be “accredited investors” as
defined under Regulation D under the Securities Act (“Accredited Investors”). Certain Private
Funds are Employees’ Securities Companies registered as an investment company pursuant to
Section 8(a) of the Investment Company Act, but otherwise generally exempt from the provisions
thereof pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Investment Company Act. In addition, certain Private Funds
require investors be “qualified purchasers” as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) of the Investment
Company Act (“Qualified Purchasers”); “qualified clients” as defined in Rule 205-3 of the
Advisers Act (“Qualified Clients”); or “knowledgeable employees” as defined in Rule 3c-5 of the
Investment Company Act (“knowledgeable employees”). Finally, certain Private Funds require
that the investors not be “U.S. persons” as defined under Regulation S of the Securities Act.
For a list of the Private Funds, please reference Section 7.B(1) of Schedule D of Part 1A of MIO’s
Form ADV, available on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
The Private Funds and the Portfolios are referred to herein collectively as the “MIO Funds.”
Non-Discretionary: Advisory Clients
MIO, acting through the advisory team employees (collectively, the “Advisory Team”), provides
non-discretionary investment advisory services (e.g., asset allocation and portfolio construction
guidance) to partners and former partners of McKinsey and their immediate family members
(collectively, the “Advisory Clients”) on a no-fee basis. The Advisory Clients will often invest in
one or more of the Private Funds, have interests in one or more of the Portfolios, or allocate assets
to products managed
by third-party managers. The Advisory Clients, not the Advisory Team
members, have sole discretion and final responsibility for their investment decisions.
Since the Advisory Clients have an advisory relationship that is separate from the relationship
between MIO and the Private Funds, they have been included in the definition of “Client” in
responses to Items 5.C, 5.D, 5.G, 5.H and 5.L in Part 1A of MIO’s Form ADV, but not for the
remaining Items therein. However, the MIO Funds and the Advisory Clients are collectively
referred to in the Brochure as the “Clients.”
The Advisory Clients are encouraged to review MIO’s Form CRS, which is also available on the
SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
C. Client Tailored Services and Client Tailored Restrictions
MIO generally enters into discretionary investment management agreements with each Private
Fund and services are performed in accordance with the terms of such agreements. Each Private
Fund is permitted to impose investment restrictions as it deems appropriate. Investment restrictions
or guidelines are typically set forth in the limited partnership agreement or other formation
documents and/or the confidential private placement memorandum for each Private Fund
(collectively, the “Offering Materials”). To the extent there is any conflict between discussions
herein and similar or related discussions in any Offering Materials, the relevant Offering Materials
will govern and control.
MIO manages the MIO Funds via two distinct strategies:
The Special Situations strategy is a diversified multi-asset class “beta” portfolio strategy
with exposure to equities, credit, duration, inflation indexes, and commodities. MIO’s
Investment Team also attempts to deliver a substantial expected “alpha” over passive
market-based benchmarks via active management. The majority of the assets are managed
by third party managers, with the balance being managed in-house, to acquire or shed
market exposure or capture alpha directly.
The Private Markets strategy is a strategy that includes private equity and venture capital
investments, each of which aims to deliver a premium return to equities.
As described more fully in Item 8, the MIO Funds’ primary objective is capital appreciation.
Generally, MIO employs a “fund of funds” investment strategy and invests MIO Fund assets either
directly or indirectly in limited partnerships and other limited liability vehicles (collectively, the
“Portfolio Funds”) as well as in managed accounts (collectively, the “Managed Accounts”), each
managed by unaffiliated portfolio managers (such advisers are collectively referred to herein as
the “Portfolio Managers”) specializing primarily in moderate- to high-risk investment strategies.
The Portfolio Funds will, from time to time, include, without limitation, commodity pools, hedge
funds, real estate partnerships, debt funds, oil and gas investment vehicles, distressed debt funds,
private equity funds, venture capital funds, and funds investing in special situations. The Portfolio
Managers to which the MIO Fund assets are allocated generally invest or trade in equity or debt
securities, whether publicly or privately traded or issued; institutional private claims; and
commodities, forwards, and other financial instruments, including, but not limited to, swaps,
futures, and options. Certain Portfolio Managers are registered as investment advisers with the
SEC under the Advisers Act, or state or non-U.S. securities regulatory agencies under applicable
law, or as CPOs and/or CTAs under the CEA.
For the Special Situations strategy, MIO also directly trades in major asset classes such as
sovereign debt, commodities, foreign exchange, equity indices, and credit indices through MIO’s
direct trading program (“Macro Trading”). For this strategy, MIO places direct investments
(collectively, the “Direct Investments”) in various instruments, primarily over-the-counter
(“OTC”) derivatives and futures. Contract types include forwards, futures, options, repurchase
agreements, reverse repurchase agreements, foreign exchange, swaptions, and swaps.
MIO provides investment advice directly to the MIO Funds according to each MIO Fund’s
particular investment objectives and not individually to the Private Fund investors or Portfolio
participants. MIO has full discretion in all investment and trading decisions made for Direct
Investments. By contrast, MIO generally grants Portfolio Managers discretion to invest or trade
assets allocated to them in a manner the Portfolio Managers deem appropriate, subject to specific
contractually-negotiated standards, oversight, and, in certain cases, with certain defined guidelines
or restrictions.
Finally, MIO has full discretion on behalf of the Retirement Trust which invests in certain passive
investment strategies for its benefit that are managed by unaffiliated registered investment
managers, including strategies focusing on equity, inflation-linked bonds, and European bonds,
for example.
Non-Discretionary: Advisory Clients
MIO provides non-discretionary investment advisory services to the Advisory Clients. The
Advisory Team uses proprietary tools and checklists to make recommendations to the Advisory
Clients with a view towards long-term wealth building.
D. Wrap Programs
Not applicable.
E. Assets Under Management
As of December 31, 2022, MIO managed $43,715,236,694 of Client assets (based on gross assets),
as calculated under the SEC’s definition of “regulatory assets under management,” and
$20,444,637,505 (based on net asset value), all on a discretionary basis. Financial advice to the
Advisory Clients is purely non-discretionary, and thus not included in these figures.