Shay Assets Management has landed its Adjustable Rate Mortgage fund and five others on the shelves of a number of additional fund supermarkets. The deals mark an abrupt shift in strategy and are the first time that the firm has signed distribution deals.

The Chicago-based advisor inked deals to win placement of the no-load funds on the shelves of TD Waterhouse, Ameritrade, Sungard Financial Networks (via the STN platform), and Bidwell & Co.

The distribution agreements mark a material departure from the firm's traditional sales approach, said Edward E. Sammons, president of Shay Assets Management. In the past, it has focused exclusively on the direct marketing to financial institutions such as banks, thrifts, and credit unions and shunned retail investors. Indeed, its products were created with the intent that banks would be the shareholders.

Sammons explained that the change in distribution strategy was driven entirely from the demand side of the equation. Most of that demand is for the firm's $3.3 billion ARM Fund.

"In the past 24 months, we've experienced an unprecedented surge in interest from brokerage firm representatives, Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs), insurance companies, trust companies, and individual investors, many of which prefer to purchase fund shares through a single consolidated brokerage account," he elaborated.  

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