Norm Cook and Phil Shaffer see a gap in the financial service model for serving ultra-high-net-worth clients and they hope to fill it with their newly launched firm, Halite Partners.
The two founders feel most firms serving the UHNW client are either good at investing or at providing the planning services that the very wealthy demand. Halite, launched in August, is good at both, they claim.
“There is a bifurcation in the industry. Wealthy families care about things like their legacy and philanthropy. Some firms provide that white glove service, but have a pedestrian approach to investing. Then there are firms that have institutional quality investing but provide few other services. We will be excellent at both,” Shaffer says.
Cook, Halite president, and Shaffer, Halite CEO, were previously with Greystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley’s institutional consulting group, which Shaffer co-founded. Cook and Shaffer managed $4 billion in assets at Morgan Stanley and have brought much of that with them to Halilte Partners. The new firm has 12 professionals, with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and an office in West Palm Beach, Fla.. Another office will open soon in Naples, Fla.
Halite Partners will seek growth through acquisitions, with a goal of adding one new firm a year under the Halite brand.
“Working for a wirehouse, we found that some of the talent we wanted to bring on board was not interested because they could not have equity in the company,” Shaffer says. “As an independent, we can attract top talent.”
