Wilshire Associates

Wilshire Associates, Inc.
Private
Industry Investment management
Founded 1972
Headquarters Santa Monica, California, United States
Key people
 Dennis Tito (founder)
Products Stock indexes, Analytical software, Consulting services, Fund of funds
Number of employees
 350+
Website www.wilshire.com

Wilshire Associates, Inc. is an independent investment management firm that offers consulting services and analytical products and manages fund of funds investment vehicles for a global client base. Wilshire manages capital for more than 600 institutional investors globally representing more than $8 trillion of capital. Wilshire is also known for the creation of the Wilshire 5000 stock index in 1974 and more recently the Wilshire 4500 stock index.[1]

Wilshire operates from four business units:

Wilshire is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in the U.S. in New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Denver as well as internationally in London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Suzhou and Hong Kong.[2]

History

Wilshire was founded in 1972 by Dennis Tito, who was an early pioneer of applying computer-based technologies to investment applications. Since the early 1970s, the firm developed from a technology firm into an investment management operation. In 1974, the firm created its signature Wilshire 5000 Stock index, which is a widely used index of all stocks actively traded in the United States.

Wilshire established an early reputation by creating the first asset/liability model for pension funds in the 1970s, ten years before actuarial and accounting firms began to adopt this technology. Wilshire was also among the first to produce investment management tools to create index funds, optimize portfolios, construct bond portfolios and measure performance.

In 1981, Wilshire launched its investment consulting business to address the needs of the plan sponsor community providing support for the pensions' investment professionals. Also in the early 1980s, Wilshire began to develop its own investment products. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wilshire began to expand its investment activities into private market investments creating a series of private equity and venture capital product offerings.

In 2003, Wilshire was targeted by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in connection to its trading practices as part of a wide ranging 2003 investigation of mutual funds.[3][4]

Business lines

Wilshire operates from four main business units.

Wilshire Analytics

Wilshire's Analytics Division provides the firm's investment technology products including desktop applications for investment managers. The Wilshire Quantum Series is Wilshire Analytics' family of software for investment accounting, performance measurement, performance attribution, risk management, portfolio optimization, trade order management, and other marketing and client servicing support for multi-currency portfolios.

Wilshire Consulting

Wilshire's Consulting division provides investment consulting services including asset allocation, investment structure, manager search and performance measurement to public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations, and insurance companies. Wilshire provides consulting services to more than 125 clients with total assets in excess of $1 trillion.

Wilshire Funds Management

Wilshire Funds Management provides customized hedge fund of funds solutions for third-party intermediaries servicing retail and institutional investors. Wilshire supports its clients distribution of various white label investment products, acting as an investment advisor or sub-advisor and develops customized products for these clients. Wilshire also provides proprietary manager research capabilities. Among the white label investment products that Wilshire offers are:

Wilshire Private Markets

Wilshire's Private Markets division manages in excess of $6.5 billion across a range of fund of funds vehicles dedicated to private equity and venture capital funds. Wilshire often structures its investment mandates to meet specific objectives. Wilshire's attempts to select top quartile partnership private equity managers using top down research, a forward calendar to identify top tier general partners, rigorous due diligence of fund commitments and active portfolio monitoring.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Wilshire Returns: Wilshire Associates to Market the Original Wilshire 5000 Index. Reuters, April 1, 2009
  2. ↑ http://www.wilshire.com/aboutus/contact
  3. ↑ Wilshire Associates Used Rapid Mutual Fund Trades. Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2003
  4. ↑ The great fund ripoff. Money, September 22, 2003
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