In just eight years, a big institutional asset manager has boosted its intermediary-driven business from less than 5 percent of its AUM to nearly two-thirds. And they've done it without any kind of field wholesaling force.

Paul Heathwood Boston Partners Director of Portfolio Research and Intermediary Sales

Paul Heathwood, director of portfolio research and intermediary sales at Boston Partners, confirms that the Orix Corp subsidiary now has about $50 billion in AUM in intermediary channels, out of $80 billion in AUM in total. Watch for him to expand his portfolio research group and their OCIO (outsourced chief investment officer) distribution through RIAs and regional consultants.

Since 2008, Heathwood has built out Boston Partners' intermediary distribution efforts, leading a team of five generalists. His sales team functions more like other firms' key accounts teams, as Heathwood and his intermediary distribution expects reach out to broker-dealers, bank trust departments, RIAs, retirement platforms, and other asset managers (for subadvising).

"Our model is staying small and nimble on the distribution side, focusing on home office teams, getting spots in models or on recommended lists," Heathwood tells MFWire.

That fits with Boston Partners' approach to products, too. Boston Partners' leadership team, Heathwood says, prides themselves "on not having a product development department."

Heathwood also leads the portfolio research group, which was formally created at the end of 2015. That team includes five portfolio analysts and two people doing capital markets and global markets research. Everyone on that team has "either run money or managed a research process."

"We wanted to tie directly to the investment team, as an extension of the investment team," Heathwood says. "Our value proposition is really within the products themselves."

Heathwood says that the portfolio research group is a place where he might add people soon. 

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