The publicly traded firm uses a multimanager approach. It fully owns all but one of its 14 affiliated asset managers and also uses subadvisors. Since 2020, it purchased six affiliates, expanding its alternative offerings through its 2021 Westchester Capital Management acquisition and its 2023 purchase of AlphaSimplex. In 2022, Virtus combined its three fixed-income affiliates—Newfleet, Stone Harbor, and Seix—into one legal entity, Virtus Fixed Income Affiliates, though each affiliate maintains its brand and continues to manage money independently.
Virtus has also made some changes to its investment lineup. Voya became a meaningful subadvisor for Virtus, after Voya bought the US business from Allianz Global Investors, which was banned by the SEC from running registered funds in the US for 10 years. Virtus maintained some of the portfolio management teams that moved to Voya but hired affiliates for most of the 17 mandates that AGI ran. More recently, Virtus announced in November 2023 it was moving on from longtime subadvisor Vontobel in favor of affiliate Sustainable Growth Advisors.
Virtus offers distribution and back-office strength, while allowing affiliates investment autonomy. Some managers are strong, such as equity specialist Kayne Anderson Rudnick.