A liquid alts- and ESG-focused acquirer in the Big Apple recently adopted a pair of Midwestern mutual funds.

Gregory David "Greg" Bassuk AXS Investments LLC Chairman, CEO

Last month, Greg Bassuk, chairman and CEO of AXS Investments, confirmed that the New York City-based firm has acquired two funds: Cognios Market Neutral Large Cap Fund (COGIX), now called the AXS Market Neutral Fund; and the Cognios Large Cap Value Fund (COGVX), now called the AXS Alternative Value Fund. The two funds have about $15 million in AUM combined; AXS now offers 12 funds in total, with about $700 million in AUM.

Bassuk confirms that AXS is keeping on Overland Park, Kansas-based Quantitative Value Technologies, LLC (dba Cognios Capital LLC) as the subadvisor for both funds. Jon Angrist, CEO and chief investment officer of Cognios, and Brian Machtley, president and chief operating officer, will continue to PM both funds, and both use Cognios' proprietary ROTA/ROME methodology (which stands for Return On Total Assets/Return On Market value of Equity).

"Adding this market neutral strategy to our lineup gives us a strategy that allows for the upside participation with downside protection," Bassuk tells MFWire re COGIX. And he lauds COGVX's "alternative investment approach to value investing at a time when value investing is poised for a long-awaited comeback."

Angrist describes the deals as freeing him and Matchtley "to focus exclusively on managing money as opposed to the business of managing mutual funds." The deals come after the duo formed Quantitative Value Technologies last year and acquired their value strategies (in the form of mutual funds, private funds, and separate accounts) from the old Cognios Capital. Then they turned to AXS.

"We spoke to many candidates. AXS has the strategy, the mindset, and the culture that just fit us best," Angrist tells MFWire. "They're a much larger firm with far greater resources to help us grow our business."

"It was a decision that we came to after quite a bit of research," Angrist adds.

Looking ahead, watch for the new Cognios and AXS to potentially team up on more funds. Angrist notes that there are other types of strategies that they could apply their ROTA/ROME methodology to.

"We both hope that there's more products that come out of this in the future," Angrist says. "None are imminent, but we've got lots of ideas." 

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