However, the firm's strong U.S. value equity team and improving multi-asset group remain core to their success. The firm earns an Average Parent rating.
Westwood's record on recent investment-related acquisitions isn't appealing. In 2020, the firm shuttered both of its most recent efforts, the lift-outs of AGF's emerging-markets team in 2012 and of Aviva's Boston-based global convertibles team in 2014. These falters limit our confidence in the firm's pending acquisition of Salient Partners. The deal, which should close by year-end 2022, adds three investment teams--energy infrastructure, tactical equity and real estate--and will broaden the firm's expertise and product lineup. That said, the real estate group is understaffed, and the three teams will not sit in the firm's Dallas headquarters, adding potential complications to team integration. The firm has improved its due-diligence efforts by establishing a formal acquisition committee, but uncertainty surrounding this acquisition's long-term success remains.
The Dallas-based value equity team stands as the firm's largest and most successful group. Although the multi-asset division struggled with a period of personnel turnover and asset depletion, it has stabilized in recent years under CIO Adrian Helfert.