QSV Named to PSN Top Guns List of Best Performing Strategies for Q4 2023

Quarterly PSN Top Guns List published by Zephyr identifies best-in-class separate accounts, managed accounts, and managed ETF strategies.

Naperville, IL – February 23, 2024 – QSV Equity Investors announced today its QSV Select strategy has been named to the celebrated PSN Top Guns List of best performing separate accounts, managed accounts, and managed ETF strategies for 4Q 2023. The highly anticipated list, published by Zephyr, remains one of the most important references for investors and asset managers. QSV was honored with a Five Star Ranking for its Select strategy in the Small-Mid Cap Universe, highlighting its top ten ranking on a risk adjusted basis over the trailing three years.

“As the needs and viewpoints of investors are becoming more diverse, investment advisors must incorporate strategies capable of being customized to their client’s goals. SMA strategies are becoming increasingly important as an efficient tool to provide custom investment solutions for portfolios of all sizes and have seen asset growth of over 19% in 2023. It is also increasingly important for managers to identify quality SMA strategies. Zephyr PSN has been helping advisors find quality products for 40 years and achieving Top Gun status confirms that QSV Equity Investors has outperformed their peers in a meaningful way,” said Nick Williams, Product Manager of PSN at Zephyr.

“Small and mid-cap stocks currently present exciting opportunities, but selectivity is important,” noted QSV Chief Investment Officer Randy Hughes. “QSV’s Select strategy holds our firm’s best ideas. We believe its focus on businesses with durable competitive advantages will continue to reward our clients over time.” QSV CEO Jeff Kautz added that “this Top Guns rating highlights the long-term competitiveness and risk management of QSV Select that we continually seek to deliver.”

Through a combination of PSN’s proprietary performance screens, the PSN Top Guns List ranks products in six proprietary categories in over 75 universes based on continued performance over time. QSV Select was awarded a Top Gun 5-Star rating, meaning that QSV Select had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the  style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, Select’s returns exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten returns for the latest three year period then become the 5 Star Top Guns.

QSV manages three fundamental strategies, Small Cap, Mid Cap and Select, each of which seeks to reward clients with performance that is above its benchmark and peers over a full market cycle with less volatility. QSV ’s investment team invests alongside its clients in small and mid-cap businesses they believe can sustain high returns on invested capital through durable competitive advantages. QSV believes that selectively owning shares of these businesses, purchased at reasonable valuations, offers investors an attractive opportunity to diversify their portfolios and grow long-term wealth. The complete list of PSN Top Guns and an overview of the methodology can be located at https://psn.fi.informais.com/. Registration is required. For more details on the specific performance and characteristics of QSV ’s strategies, including a fully GIPS compliant presentation, please visit www.QSVequity.com.

About QSV Equity Investors, LLC

QSV Equity Investors is an employee-owned asset management firm that invests alongside its clients in high conviction portfolios of quality small and mid-capitalization businesses. QSV manages these portfolios of publicly traded companies for individuals, family offices and institutions. Based in Naperville, Illinois, QSV was founded in 2016 by Jeff Kautz and Randy Hughes, investment professionals who previously held senior roles at Janus Henderson subsidiary Perkins Investment Management and have invested together for over 25 years.

About PSN

For nearly four decades, PSN has been a top resource for investment professionals. Asset managers rely on Zephyr’s PSN to effectively reach institutional and retail investors. Over 2,800 firms, 285 universes, and more than 21,000 products comprise the PSN SMA database showing asset breakdowns, compliance, key personnel, ownership diversity, ESG, business objectives and strategy, style, fees, GIC sectors, fixed income ranges and full holdings. Unique to PSN is its robust historical database of nearly 40 Years of Data Including Net and Gross-of-Fee Returns. For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns Rankings or to purchase PSN Top Guns Reports, contact Robby Resendez at PSNdata@informais.com Visit PSN online to learn more.

Media Contact:

Dave Mertens
QSV Equity Investors, LLC
dmertens@qsvequity.com
(630) 376-4392

Rebrand, AUM Milestone Propelling QSV Equity Investors Forward

Rebrand AUM Milestone Propelling QSV Equity Investors Forward – Full Reprint

Things are moving forward for QSV Equity Investors, which recently eclipsed the $100 million mark in assets under management. The domestic small- and mid-cap focused equity firm officially rebranded from Ballast Equity Management on March 21, with its new name a nod to the focus on the factors that drive the team’s investment process – quality, sustainability and value. “We’re striving to deliver stability for our investors, low standard deviation, however, you want to measure it, a low volatility strategy. We do that by buying quality companies at reasonable valuations,” Partner and Head of Business Development Dave Mertens said. The decision was also influenced by the firm’s awareness of the persisting overlap the Ballast name had with other firms in the space as the team discussed rebranding for the better part of the last year, according to Mertens. “Asset managers in general have taken the name of every rock, tree, river and mountain. There’s many names that have been taken and it’s hard to find something that’s new and original,” he added. QSV was co-founded in 2016 by CEO Jeff Kautz and CIO Randy Hughes, who worked together at Janus Henderson Investors subsidiary Perkins Investment Management before launching Ballast, forming the mid-cap strategy that year prior to introducing small-cap and small- to mid-cap strategies in 2017. “[Kautz and Hughes] really felt that they needed to kind of get their legs under them and really build a proof statement or a track record of a certain length before we went out to the public,” Mertens said. That focus may have caused the pair to lose touch with some of the contacts they had built up in their time at Perkins and made laying a foundation the primary directive for Mertens upon joining in 2019. “We were getting out and making calls to some of the [investors] that had done business with Jeff and Randy earlier at Perkins,” Mertens said. “We were getting the data in the databases and getting basic blocking and tackling in place.” The firm maintains a Naperville, Ill.- based office, formerly in Oak Brook, Ill., that serves Kautz and Hughes. Mertens, who is based in Colorado, noted the firm hit the road initially in cities like Chicago where they had a more robust network, but that marketing did not get into full swing until early 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. COO Josh Freedman, also based in Colorado, rounds out the current team af-ter joining in 2020 from Denver-based Elk Creek Partners. “We had worked with him together in late 90s and early 2000s, so we knew Josh well, but we knew that from his experiences at Platte River [Capital Management] and Elk Creek, he knew how to put infrastructure in place that was scalable,” Mertens said. “As he got that done in 2020 that really prepared us … to be more ready for the marketplace and the institutional marketplace.” The firm’s growth to $100 million in assets has been aided by its relationship with emerging manager-of-managers Legato Capital Management, which has resulted in investments in the firm’s domestic smallcap value product by the five New York City Retirement Systems, FIN Searches data shows. The small-cap strategy, which the Informa PSN database shows has outperformed the Russell 2000 Value Index over the one-, three- and five-year periods ending Dec. 31, comprises the bulk of QSV’s assets under management with roughly $83 million, according to Mertens, who noted the firm has built from friends and family to a now majority of institutional investors. The firm, while “benchmark aware,” is focused on its bottom-up process of finding the best businesses, according to Mertens, who noted QSV will generally have position sizes of 1% to 4% and sector weights or no more than 200% or less than 50%. “The outliers, in terms of sectors, are due to our quality bias and our demand for high returns on invested capital. Historically, we have been very low or absent in energy and utilities. As you can imagine that low weight in energy was a headwind last year, but generally we’ve just not seen those companies produce high returns on invested capital,” Mertens said. Conversely, the firm tends to overweight areas like technology, healthcare, consumer staples and businesses that produce high returns on invested capital, he added, noting that the technology weight in what the firm calls “chicken tech” represents a differentiator from the typical small- or mid-cap value manager. “These are not high tech, high growth companies so much as software and services providers that are more steady return on invested capital plays,” Mertens said. QSV anticipates its capacity will top out at roughly $2 billion for the small-cap strategy, $2.5 billion in the smid-cap strategy, and $7 billion in the mid-cap strategy, according to Mertens. He noted that closing at a manageable size is a primary consideration for the team, which learned the lesson of managing too much money in a capacity constrained strategy when the Perkins small-cap strategy was reopened after the firm’s merger with Janus Henderson. “They learned from that experience that size is the enemy of performance, and it really did hinder their performance considerably, trying to manage too much money,” Mertens said. QSV does plan to scale the firm in line with asset growth but in the meantime is content with its current setup. “As the firm grows and as we’re able to we certainly want to add in the investment team eventually,” Mertens said. “What we have now, in terms of human capital, is certainly enough to get the job done and we are scalable.”

Disclaimer: No client or potential client should assume that any information presented should be construed as personalized investment advice. Personalized investment advice can only be rendered after engagement of the firm for services, execution of the required documentation, and receipt of required disclosures. Investing carries the risk of loss. QSV Equity Investors is a registered investment advisor. For additional information about the firm and its professionals please visit the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov

This article was reprinted with the permission of Emerging Manager Monthly

Oakbrook, IL – May 24, 2022 – QSV Equity Investors has been awarded multiple PSN Top Guns
distinctions by Informa Financial Intelligence’s PSN manager database, North America’s longest running
database of investment managers. QSV was honored with 6 Star, 5 Star and 4 Star Top Gun ratings for
its Quality Value Midcap strategy in the Mid Value Universe for Q1 2022, highlighting risk-adjusted results
over the trailing three- and five-year periods.

“Volatile markets are currently a fact of life,” noted QSV co-founder and Chief Investment Officer Randy
Hughes. “Ongoing Top Guns recognition by Informa Financial Intelligence is gratifying, as it highlights the
competitive risk-adjusted returns that QSV has delivered for our clients.”

Through a combination of Informa Financial Intelligence’s proprietary performance screens, *PSN Top Guns
(*free registration to view Top Guns) ranks products in six proprietary categories in over 50 universes. This
is a well-respected quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors.
Informa Financial Intelligence is part of Informa PLC, a leading provider of critical decision-making solutions
and custom services to financial institutions.

Quality Value Midcap received the 4 Star rating, which is awarded to strategies with an r-squared of 0.80
or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s returns
must exceed the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. The top ten returns for the
latest three-year period then become the 4 Star Top Guns. The Quality Value Midcap strategy received 5
Star recognition, awarded to those strategies that had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style
benchmark for the recent five-year period. Additionally, the strategy’s returns must have exceeded the
style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a
standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer
group. The top ten returns for the latest three-year period then become the 5 Star Top Guns. Lastly, the
Quality Value Midcap strategy received the 6 Star rating. To attain this rating, the strategy had an r-squared
of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s
returns exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then
selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard
deviation for the peer group. The top ten information ratios for the latest five-year period then become
the 6 Star Top Guns.

QSV manages three fundamental strategies, Quality Value Midcap, Select Value, and Quality Value
Smallcap, all of which seek to reward clients with performance that is above their benchmarks and peers
over a full market cycle with less volatility. QSV’s investment team invests alongside its clients in small
and mid-cap businesses they believe can sustain high returns on invested capital through durable
competitive advantages. Markets currently present investors with elevated levels of risk and QSV
believes that selectively owning durable businesses purchased at reasonable valuations will be key to
preserving and growing wealth.

“Congratulations to QSV Equity Investors for being recognized as a PSN Top Gun,” said Ryan Nauman,
Market Strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr. “This highly esteemed designation allows us to
recognize success, excellence and performance of leading investment managers each quarter.”

The complete list of PSN Top Guns and an overview of the methodology can be found on
https://psn.fi.informais.com/

For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns Rankings or to purchase PSN Top Guns
Reports, contact Margaret Tobiasen at Margaret.tobiasen@informa.com.

For more details on the specific performance and characteristics of QSV’s strategies, including a fully
GIPS compliant presentation, please visit www.qsvequityinvestors.com.

About QSV Equity Investors, LLC

QSV Equity Investors is an employee-owned asset management firm that invests alongside its clients
in high conviction portfolios of quality small and mid-capitalization businesses. QSV manages these
portfolios of publicly traded companies for individuals, family offices and institutions. Based in Oakbrook
Terrace, Illinois, QSV was founded in 2016 by Jeff Kautz and Randy Hughes, investment professionals who
previously held senior roles at Perkins Investment Management and have invested together for 25 years.

About Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr

Financial Intelligence, part of the Informa Intelligence Division of Informa plc, is a leading provider of
products and services helping financial institutions around the world cut through the noise and take
decisive action. Informa Financial Intelligence’s solutions provide unparalleled insight into market
opportunity, competitive performance and customer segment behavioral patterns and performance
through specialized industry research, intelligence, and insight. IFI’s Zephyr portfolio supports asset
allocation, investment analysis, portfolio construction, and client communications that combine to help
advisors and portfolio managers retain and grow client relationships. For more information about IFI, visit
https://financialintelligence.informa.com. For more information about Zephyr’s PSN Separately Managed
Accounts data, visit https://financialintelligence.informa.com/products-and-services/data-analysis-and-tools/psn-sma.

Media Contact:

Dave Mertens
QSV Equity Investors, LLC
dmertens@ballastequity.com
(630) 376-4392

Oakbrook, IL – November 22, 2021 – QSV Equity Investors has been awarded multiple PSN Top Guns distinctions by Informa Financial Intelligence’s PSN manager database, North America’s longest running database of investment managers. QSV was honored with 6 Star, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star and 1 Star Top Gun ratings for its Quality Value Midcap strategy in the Mid Value Universe. The QSV Select Value strategy was also recognized with a 1 Star rating in the Mid Value Universe.

“Recognition by Informa Financial Intelligence for multiple time periods and metrics is gratifying, as it underscores the consistency with which QSV seeks to deliver results for its clients,” noted QSV co-founder and Chief Investment Officer Randy Hughes. “We are pleased that these Top Guns ratings reflect the smoother ride we seek to offer investors through volatile markets.”

Through a combination of Informa Financial Intelligence’s proprietary performance screens, *PSN Top Guns (*free registration to view Top Guns) ranks products in six proprietary categories in over 50 universes. This is a well-respected quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors. Informa Financial Intelligence is part of Informa PLC, a leading provider of critical decision-making solutions and custom services to financial institutions.

QSV’s Quality Value Midcap and Select Value strategies each received the Top Gun 1 Star rating, with each ranking in the top ten returns in its universe for the trailing quarter. QSV Quality Value Midcap also received the 3 Star rating, noting the strategy’s standing as one of the top ten returns for the three-year period in its respective universe, and the 4 Star rating. The 4 Star rating is awarded to strategies with an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s returns must exceed the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. The top ten returns for the latest three-year period then become the 4 Star Top Guns.

The Quality Value Midcap strategy also received 5 Star recognition, awarded to those strategies that had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Additionally, the strategy’s returns must have exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten returns for the latest three-year period then become the 5 Star Top Guns. Finally, the QSV Quality Value Midcap strategy attained the 6 Star rating, recognizing those products that had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s returns must have exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten information ratios for the latest five-year period then become the 6 Star Top Guns.

QSV manages three fundamental strategies, the Quality Value Midcap, Select Value, and Quality Value Smallcap, all of which seek to reward clients with performance that is above their benchmarks and peers over a full market cycle with less volatility. QSV’s investment team is focused on investing alongside clients in small and mid-cap businesses they believe can sustain high returns on invested capital through durable competitive advantages. Markets currently present investors with elevated levels of uncertainty and QSV believes that selectively owning durable businesses purchased at reasonable valuations will be key to preserving and growing wealth.

“Congratulations to QSV Equity Investors for being recognized as a PSN Top Gun,” said Ryan Nauman, Market Strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr. “This highly esteemed designation allows us to recognize success, excellence and performance of leading investment managers each quarter.”

The complete list of PSN Top Guns and an overview of the methodology can be found on https://psn.fi.informais.com/

For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns Rankings or to purchase PSN Top Guns Reports, contact Margaret Tobiasen at Margaret.tobiasen@informa.com.

For more details on the specific performance and characteristics of QSV’s strategies, including a fully GIPS compliant presentation, please visit www.qsvequityinvestors.com.

About QSV Equity Investors, LLC
QSV Equity Investors is an employee-owned asset management firm that invests alongside its clients in high conviction portfolios of quality small and mid-capitalization businesses. QSV manages these portfolios of publicly traded companies for individuals, family offices and institutions. Based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, QSV was founded in 2016 by Jeff Kautz and Randy Hughes, investment professionals who previously held senior roles at Perkins Investment Management and have invested together for over 20 years.

About Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr
Financial Intelligence, part of the Informa Intelligence Division of Informa plc, is a leading provider of products and services helping financial institutions around the world cut through the noise and take decisive action. Informa Financial Intelligence’s solutions provide unparalleled insight into market opportunity, competitive performance and customer segment behavioral patterns and performance through specialized industry research, intelligence, and insight. IFI’s Zephyr portfolio supports asset allocation, investment analysis, portfolio construction, and client communications that combine to help advisors and portfolio managers retain and grow client relationships. For more information about IFI, visit https://financialintelligence.informa.com. For more information about Zephyr’s PSN Separately Managed Accounts data, visit https://financialintelligence.informa.com/products-and-services/data-analysis-and-tools/psn-sma.

Media Contact:
Dave Mertens
QSV Equity Investors, LLC
dmertens@ballastequity.com
(630) 376-4392

Criteria: The PSN universes were created using the information collected through the PSN investment manager questionnaire and use only gross of fee returns. Mutual fund and commingled fund products are not included in the universe. PSN Top Guns investment managers must claim that they are GIPS compliant. Products must have an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the five-year period ending June 30, 2021. Moreover, products must have returns greater than the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods ending June 30, 2021. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten performers for the latest three-year period become the 5 STAR TOP GUNS.

The content of PSN Top Guns is intended for use by qualified investment professionals. Please consult with an investment professional before making any investment decisions using the content or implied content from PSN Top Guns.

All Rights Reserved. PSN Top Guns is powered by PSN. PSN is an investment manager database and is a division of Informa Financial Intelligence. No part of PSN Top Guns may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of Informa Financial Intelligence.

Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by Informa Financial Intelligence (IFI) sources or others, IFI does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or availability of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. THERE ARE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall IFI be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages in connection with the use of any information or derived using information based on PSN Top Guns results.

Returns presented are for the QSV Quality Value Mid Cap composite. QSV Equity Investors, LLC claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). GIPS® is a registered trademark of the CFA Institute. CFA Institute does not endorse or promote this organization, nor does it warrant the accuracy or quality of the content contained herein. Click here for a GIPS report on the QSV Quality Value Mid Cap composite.

(*) Style Benchmark
The PSN Mid Cap Value universe is comprised of 105 firms and 135 products

Oakbrook, IL – August 24, 2021 – QSV Equity Investors Fmahas been awarded multiple PSN Top Guns distinctions by Informa Financial Intelligence’s PSN manager database, North America’s longest running database of investment managers.

QSV was honored with both 5 Star and 6 Star Top Gun ratings for its Quality Value Midcap strategy in the Mid Value Universe. The QSV Select Value strategy was also recognized with a 3 Star rating in the Small-Mid Value Universe.

“QSV is pleased to have delivered long term results for our clients that have been recognized by Informa Financial Intelligence,” noted QSV CEO Jeff Kautz. “We are particularly gratified that these Top Guns ratings reflect the smoother ride we seek to offer investors through volatile markets.”

Through a combination of Informa Financial Intelligence’s proprietary performance screens, *PSN Top Guns (*free registration to view Top Guns) ranks products in six proprietary categories in over 50 universes. This is a well-respected quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors. Informa Financial Intelligence is part of Informa plc, a leading provider of critical decision-making solutions and custom services to financial institutions.

Top Gun firms are awarded a rating ranging from one to six stars, with the number of stars representing continued performance over time. Attaining a 5 Star rating indicates that the QSV Quality Value Midcap strategy had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s returns exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. The top ten returns for the latest three-year period then become the 5 Star Top Guns.

The 6-Star rating indicates that the QSV Quality Value Midcap strategy had an r-squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, the strategy’s returns exceeded the style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. Products are then selected which have a standard deviation for the five-year period equal or less than the median standard deviation for the peer group. Products with the top ten information ratios for the latest five-year period then become the 6 Star Top Guns.

Recognition of the QSV Select Value strategy with a 3 Star rating signifies that it had one of the top ten returns for the three-year period in the Small-Mid Value universes.

The QSV Quality Value Midcap, Select Value, and Quality Value Smallcap strategies all seek to reward clients with performance that is above their benchmarks and peers over a full market cycle, with less volatility. QSV investment team is focused on investing alongside clients in small and mid-cap businesses they believe can sustain high returns on invested capital through durable competitive advantages. Markets currently present investors with high levels of uncertainty and QSV believes that selectively owning durable businesses purchased at reasonable valuations will be key to preserving and growing wealth.

“Congratulations to QSV Equity Investors for being recognized as a PSN Top Gun,” said Ryan Nauman, Market Strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr. “This highly esteemed designation allows us to recognize success, excellence and performance of leading investment managers each quarter.”

The complete list of PSN Top Guns and an overview of the methodology can be located on https://psn.fi.informais.com/

For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns Rankings or to purchase PSN Top Guns Reports, contact Margaret Tobiasen at Margaret.tobiasen@informa.com.

For more details on the specific performance and characteristics of QSV’s strategies, including a fully GIPS compliant presentation, please visit www.qsvequityinvestors.com.

About QSV Equity Investors, LLC
QSV Equity Investors is an employee-owned asset management firm that invests alongside its clients in high conviction portfolios of quality small and mid-capitalization businesses. QSV manages these portfolios of publicly traded companies for individuals, family offices and institutions. Based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, QSV was founded in 2016 by Jeff Kautz and Randy Hughes, investment professionals who previously held senior roles at Perkins Investment Management and have invested together for over 20 years.

About Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr
Financial Intelligence, part of the Informa Intelligence Division of Informa plc, is a leading provider of products and services helping financial institutions around the world cut through the noise and take decisive action. Informa Financial Intelligence’s solutions provide unparalleled insight into market opportunity, competitive performance and customer segment behavioral patterns and performance through specialized industry research, intelligence, and insight. IFI’s Zephyr portfolio supports asset allocation, investment analysis, portfolio construction, and client communications that combine to help advisors and portfolio managers retain and grow client relationships. For more information about IFI, visit https://financialintelligence.informa.com. For more information about Zephyr’s PSN Separately Managed Accounts data, visit https://financialintelligence.informa.com/products-and-services/data-analysis-and-tools/psn-sma.

Oakbrook Terrace, IL – July 2021 – QSV Equity Investors, LLC, a registered investment advisor, today announced their investment strategies are now available on SMArtX Advisory Solutions (“SMArtX”), a leading innovator in unified managed accounts (UMA) technology and architect of the SMArtX turnkey asset management platform (TAMP). The relationship with SMArtX will enable QSV’s Quality Value Smallcap and Quality Value Midcap strategies to be accessed by the broker/dealers and wealth advisors utilizing the SMArtX platform.

“Prior to founding QSV, our team had a long history of serving advisors and their clients through the management of small and mid-cap portfolios. We are thrilled to reestablish many of those relationships while embracing the technology offered by SMArtX, who shares our vision and commitment to the highest industry standards” said Jeff Kautz, CEO of QSV.

Employing its proprietary technology, SMArtX helps clients to reduce the time and monetary costs of operating their investment management business. SMArtX’s simple user interface allows clients to allocate in real-time to QSV’s strategies in a model delivery unified managed account (‘UMA’). Their technology provides a scalable resource for advisors to build highly diversified portfolios and deploy them at scale across client accounts, providing a key distribution resource. Two of the QSV Quality Value strategies are now available through the SMArtX platform, the Quality Value Smallcap and Quality Value Midcap strategies.

“We are excited to expand the selection of investment strategies available to advisors, providing asset managers with a new and diverse way to scale distribution while giving our clients access to top quality asset managers” said Evan Rapoport, CEO of SMArtX. “We look forward to working with them to provide advisors with the long-only small and mid-cap equity strategies they offer.”

The addition of QSV Equity Investors on the SMArtX platform positions the firm to continue on its path of significant recent growth. QSV’s assets under management and administration have experienced a twofold increase over the past quarter to approximately $98 million, with significant growth in institutional client assets in its Quality Value Smallcap strategy.

About QSV Equity Investors, LLC

QSV Equity Investors is an employee-owned asset management firm that invests alongside its clients in high conviction portfolios of quality small and mid-capitalization businesses. QSV manages these portfolios of publicly traded companies for individuals, family offices and institutions. Based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, QSV was founded in 2016 by Jeff Kautz and Randy Hughes, investment professionals who previously held senior roles at Perkins Investment Management and have invested together for over 20 years. More information may be found at www.qsvequityinvestors.com.

About SMArtX Advisory Solutions

SMArtX Advisory Solutions is the next generation managed accounts technology provider and manages SMArtX, a turnkey asset management platform and the only platform to seamlessly offer a traditional, alternative, and passive direct index strategies in a unified managed account structure. The firm also uses its proprietary trading and managed accounts technology to power SS&C Advent’s integrated unified managed account solution. Learn more about SMArtX Advisory Solutions at www.smartxadvisory.com.

JEFF KAUTZ is Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager of QSV Equity Investors LLC. Prior to founding QSV, he was with Perkins Investment Management from 1997 to 2015, where he held roles including CEO, Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager. Mr. Kautz also served as co-manager of the Janus Henderson Mid Cap Value Fund and the Janus Henderson Value Plus Income Fund. Assets under management during his leadership at Perkins rose from $30 million to over $20 billion. Mr. Kautz began his career as a Market Maker and Specialist for GVR & Co. on the Midwest Stock Exchange. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Chicago. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

RANDY HUGHES is Co-Founder, Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager of QSV Equity Investors LLC. Prior to founding QSV, Mr. Hughes was with Perkins Investment Management from 1995 to 2015, where he held roles including Director of Research and Analytics and Equity Analyst. Assets under management during his leadership at Perkins rose from $30 million to over $20 billion. Mr. Hughes began his career as a Registered Representative with First Investors Corporation. He earned a B.S. in finance from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from Governors State University.

SECTOR — GENERAL INVESTING

WST: Would you start by telling us about QSV Equity, which you founded five years ago — a bit about its history and what the business looks like today?

Back to Business – Q4 2020 RIA M&A Outlook

2020 has been a challenging environment for even the most resilient Advisors and their Clients. Many business plans focusing on growth this year
were thrown out of the window in March when the global pandemic effectively shut down the economy. As we begin to resume normal business activities, FLX Distribution and our Asset Manager partner, QSV
Equity are committed to bringing you resources to best position your practice for growth.

Please join us on Tuesday October 6th, 2020 at 12 pm ET for a conversation with Skyview Partners and MyRIALawyer to learn more about:

• How M&A transactions and RIA valuations have been affected by Covid-19 – what it means for your succession plan or growth strategy.
• Preparing for the commercial loan process and how to successfully leverage bank financing.
• Regulatory considerations for RIAs – the most common red flags regulators look for and how to leverage outside legal counsel, allowing you and your team to focus on growth.

Click here to join the meeting October 6th at 12 pm ET via Zoom. Meeting ID: 947 3310 4242
Passcode: 3YRx1a

Sponsored by FLX Distribution and QSV Equity

Investors

FLX Distribution                    QSV Equity Investors