Uniplan Institutional Advisors LLC (“UIA”) is an investment adviser registered as
such with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. We provide sophisticated,
specialized single-portfolio investment advisory management designed primarily for
institutional investor clients and high net worth individuals.
Although we began offering our specialized single-portfolio services during 2021
we have common roots, together with our parent entity, Uniplan Investment Counsel, Inc.,
a registered investment adviser (“UIC”), dating back to 1984. Our founder, Richard P.
Imperiale, is our Chairman and Chief Investment Officer. We are a wholly-owned
subsidiary of UIC, a registered investment adviser of which Mr. Imperiale is the sole
shareholder, sole director, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer.
We operate in such a manner as to follow Global Investment Performance Standards
(GIPS®), for purposes of reporting client investment performance results. At such time as
we meet the requirements for us to be reviewed and approved for GIPS® verification
(which we anticipate occurring as soon as practicable after we have assets under
management), we intend to serve only clients seeking GIPS®-compliance for investment
reporting and other disclosure purposes.
Our investment advisory portfolio management services are provided to clients on a
discretionary basis, which means that we have full investment authority to decide which
securities to purchase and sell for the portfolio in which the client’s funds are invested. This
is consistent with the guidelines that we have established and may change from time to time
for the portfolio. We currently have no assets under management on a discretionary basis.
Inasmuch as we do not provide investment advisory services on a nondiscretionary basis,
we have no assets under management on a nondiscretionary basis.
We provide our investment advisory portfolio management services primarily to
institutional investor clients (as more fully described below), and high net worth
individuals, including family offices, endowments, foundations, corporations and other
business entities, charitable organizations, banks, thrifts and other financial institutions,
state and municipal government entities, pension and profit-sharing plans subject to the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 as amended (“ERISA”) and their
sponsors, trusts and estates, employee benefit plans, and other investment advisers. We
provide these services to such clients primarily pursuant to “dual contract” arrangements,
whether on a primary advisory or subadvisory basis, whereby the client has (a) a contract
with the broker-dealer, custodian or other institution providing brokerage, custodial
services, and/or related services to the client; and (b) a separate investment portfolio
management agreement directly with us.
Generally, the broker-dealer or custodian for the client account refers the account to
us based on its pre-existing relationship with the client and its understanding, as part of the
services it provides to the client, of the specific needs and circumstances of the client’s
account. Inasmuch as the broker-dealer or custodian generally refers to us only a portion of
the client’s total assets that are part of its account with the client, the broker-dealer or
custodian generally is responsible to determine what amount of the client’s assets is to be
referred to us for investment in our specialized portfolio. Accordingly, we do not tailor our
portfolio or our services to the individual needs of any client other than to the extent of any
specialized portfolio-building and enhancement tools that we may provide with respect to
the client’s account upon the request of the client, as more fully described in Item 4.II.,
below.
I. Type of Advisory Arrangements.
We provide, as stated above, discretionary investment portfolio management
services to private and institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals, whether on a
primary advisory or subadvisory basis, whereby the client’s account assets are typically
managed in a single investment portfolio in accordance with investment objectives,
guidelines, and restrictions that we have established for such portfolio. Generally, the
broker-dealer or custodian that has referred the client account to us will have done so based
on its previous evaluation of our objectives, guidelines and restrictions for the portfolio and
its determination that our portfolio is appropriate for, and otherwise consistent with, the
investment objectives of the referred client, as well as any other requirements or restrictions
that may be imposed by the broker/dealer or custodian as to, for instance, types of
investment and/or strategies, securities trading requirements, etc., as part of the services it
provides to the client and/or the client’s overall assets.
Also as stated above, under our above-described “dual contract” arrangement, we
enter into an investment advisory agreement with the client account owner and, in addition,
the client has a separate contract with its broker-dealer or other institution that provides
related services to the client, such as brokerage and/or custodial services. Under this
arrangement, we are usually directed to use a particular broker-dealer to execute trades, but
we generally reserve the right to consult
with the account owner client and/or the broker-
dealer or custodian and “step out” and execute trades elsewhere in cases where we believe
that it is in the best interests of the client account or if we believe that circumstances
otherwise warrant.
Inasmuch as the broker-dealer or custodian usually refers the client account to us
and has a previously-existing relationship with the client, the broker-dealer or custodian is
generally responsible for client intake procedures such as anti-money laundering
procedures/compliance. Inasmuch as the client account referred to us is usually only a
portion of the account owner client’s total aggregate assets, the broker-dealer, custodian or
institution referring the client is generally primarily responsible for analyzing the client’s
financial and investment needs, determining whether our advisory services are suitable for
the client, and for monitoring and evaluating client account performance and providing
periodic reporting of account performance, activity, etc., to the client.
II. Types of Investments and Investment Strategies.
With respect to all of our investment management services, we focus on particular
types of investments, including the following:
INVESTMENT TYPE FOCUS
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and
Real Estate Operating Companies (REOCs)
Strategies
U.S. domestic REIT opportunities
Small Cap Strategies U.S. domestic with a market capitalization
of approximately $500 Million to $4 Billion
Micro Cap Strategies U.S. domestic with a market capitalization
of approximately $100 Million to $500
Million
Equity Income Strategies (High Income
Total Return)
Providing current income with a total return
framework focusing on dividend paying
common stocks, REITs, global
infrastructure, and preferred securities.
Fixed Income Strategies US domestic fixed income with a credit and
duration profile consistent with the client’s
investment policy
Our principal investment strategy is to seek competitive long-term returns by
focusing on particular types of investments, as described above, when clients require
GIPS® for purposes of reporting its investment performance results.
We do not necessarily limit our investment advice to these specialized categories
and we will periodically utilize different investment strategies outside of those described
above depending on the objectives of the client. In such cases, we will consult closely with
the client in developing such investment strategy.
In providing our services, as stated above, we offer, upon request, several
specialized portfolio-building and enhancement tools which focus on a particular type of
investment strategy and/or are designed to help the client attain its particular portfolio
objective. We may provide these specific portfolio-building and enhancement tools in
cooperation with other specialized investment advisers or other specialized service
providers. These additional portfolio-building and enhancement tools include the following:
Socially-Responsible Investment (SRI) Overlay Services: We offer, upon request,
affirmative and negative screening of securities as to environmental, social, and corporate
governance (“ESG”) issues that may affect the overall performance of the client’s
investment portfolio across industries, sectors, regions, asset classes and through time. As
part of this service, we also may develop an active ownership policy for the client
consistent with the client’s ESG objectives. As to securities purchased for the client’s
portfolio using this service, we may also do the following:
-- Exercise proxy voting rights for the client consistent with its ESG objectives
and monitor compliance with the client’s proxy voting policy if the client
requests;
-- Develop an engagement strategy and capability (either directly or
through outsourcing);
-- Submit shareholder resolutions consistent with the client’s ESG
objectives;
-- Engage with company leadership on ESG issues; and
-- Participate in collaborative engagement initiatives with companies
the client is invested in.
Strategic and Tactical Portfolio Overlay Services: Upon request, we develop and
implement short term and intermediate term asset allocation strategies for client portfolios
to enhance total return and reduce portfolio volatility. We do this through our development
and use of quantitative timing models and portfolio hedging techniques that might include:
-- Long-short matched pair trading;
-- Option writing strategies;
-- Position specific hedges;
-- ETF based portfolio hedging strategies;
-- Strategic and tactical valuation monitoring.
“Bespoke” Services: Upon request, we create and implement, on both a primary
advisory and a subadvisory basis, specialized investment strategies to other registered
investment advisers, institutional clients and other counter parties requiring custom-
designed strategies as to a portion of the client’s portfolio tailored to a particular need,
objective or circumstance of the client. Our “Bespoke” services are typically provided
under direct “single-contract” relationships between us and the client as arrangements,
whereby an investor simply enters into a discretionary investment management agreement
with us and either we or the client selects a broker-dealer and/or custodian to use for the
client’s account.