Item 7 – Types of Clients
High Pointe provides portfolio management and investment advisory services primarily to high net
worth individuals, trusts, estates, and institutional clients such as corporate and public employee
pension and profit sharing plans, foundations, charitable organizations, and corporations. High
Pointe sometimes acts as a sub-adviser to other advisers for these types of clients.
The standard minimum size is $2 million for Separate Accounts. High Pointe may waive the minimum
account size requirement at its discretion.
Item 8 – Method of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss
Investment Strategies and Method of Analysis
High Pointe manages balanced portfolio and equity-oriented accounts.
Balanced Portfolio Accounts
Balanced Portfolio Account management starts with establishing an asset allocation policy to guide
the management strategy of the account. Clients also have an opportunity to specify any guidelines
and restrictions for their account. High Pointe then proceeds with construction of the portfolio. This
typically involves a selection of 1) individual stocks to achieve equity exposure and 2) mutual funds
and exchange-traded vehicles to achieve exposure to other asset classes such as municipal bonds,
investment grade bonds, high yield bonds, etc. High Pointe usually restricts purchase of individual
fixed income securities to government bonds; however, other types of fixed income securities may
be held in client portfolios if they were part of the client’s account at the time of transfer of the
portfolio to High Pointe.
Equity-Oriented Accounts
High Pointe’s equity-oriented investment methodology, broadly speaking, is to conduct quantitative
and fundamental analysis of individual securities and funds to identify those that in its opinion are
undervalued relative to their growth prospects and franchise quality. Franchise quality is a function
of intangible assets such as brands, patents, reputation and includes environmental, social, and
governance (ESG) factors. Analytical techniques employed by the Adviser include the following:
• Review of financial and market information about securities and funds from data sources such as
Thomson Reuters Eikon and Morningstar
• Statistical modeling to compare companies based on their valuation relative to their growth
prospects and business quality
• Review of financial statements
• Review of third-party research reports
This methodology is applied to different segments of the equity market to implement the equity-
oriented strategies described below. Some client accounts are invested by selecting and combining
investment ideas from more than one of these strategies.
Large Cap Value: This strategy invests a majority of the assets in selected “value” stocks with
capitalization in excess of $5 billion. This strategy invests in stocks that, in the judgment of High
Pointe, offer good “value” relative to other companies in a similar business, their growth potential, or
their historical valuation levels.
Global Equity: This strategy invests primarily in stocks (including ADRs) of companies that may be
located within or outside the United States. A majority of the assets are invested in mid to large
companies located in developed countries; however, emerging market stocks are also used
moderately. Both value and growth stocks are used in this strategy.
Global Real Assets: This strategy seeks long-term capital growth by investing a substantial portion
of its assets in “real assets” and securities of companies that are engaged in activities related to, or
have substantial ownership of real assets. Commodity pools and exchange trades vehicles may also
be used to implement this strategy. “Real assets” are broadly defined and are considered to include
any assets and companies that have exposure to physical properties, such as commodities, natural
resources, basic materials, real estate, infrastructure, utilities and telecommunications.
Risk of Loss
Investing in securities involves risk of loss that clients should be prepared to bear.
Investing in equity-oriented securities, such as stocks, ADRs, exchange traded vehicles (ETVs) and
equity-oriented mutual funds, exposes client accounts to the risk of a broad market decline as well
risks related to poor security or sector selection by the adviser managing the account or the
underlying funds. In particular, small stocks have the additional risks of being more volatile and less
liquid.
By investing in fixed income-oriented securities such as bonds and bond mutual funds, client
accounts are exposed to risks related to inflation, interest rate changes, speed of mortgage
prepayments, creditworthiness of the bond issuer, etc.
Investment in international securities, including both equity and fixed income, exposes client
accounts to currency risk and the possibility of weaker accounting and legal standards.
Commodity-oriented investments can be affected by overall market movements and factors specific
to a particular industry or commodity, which may include weather, embargoes, tariffs, and economic
health, political, international regulatory and other developments. Exposure to the commodities
market may subject client assets to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities.
Certain exchange-traded vehicles, e.g., exchange-traded notes, may expose client assets to
counterparty risk. Counterparty risk is the risk that the counterparty to a contract or other obligation
will be unable or unwilling to honor its obligations. Certain exchange-traded vehicles may use
derivatives, e.g., commodities futures and subject client assets to risks associates with such
derivatives. Derivatives may not move in the direction anticipated by the Adviser. Transactions in
vehicles that use derivatives may increase volatility.
High Pointe acts prudently by managing client portfolios in line with agreed upon guidelines and by
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