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215 Queens Road Charlotte, NC 28204 (704) 333-1710
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July 9, 2009
By Andrew Bloomenthal
 Former WealthTrust Advisors principals H.K. Hallett and Alex Miles have spun out from their holding company WealthTrust LLC, taking $300 million in assets under management to start a new firm, Kingfisher Capital. The subsidiary’s Charlotte, N.C., office at WealthTrust LLC will be shut down. Hallett and Miles wanted more flexibility in offerings for high-net-worth and institutional investors.
In 1989, Hallett co-founded the firm James M. Myers Research, which was bought out by WealthTrust’s Nashville, Tenn., parent company in 2004, and became the WealthTrust Advisors subsidiary. To spin out, the pair bought back a 100% ownership stake, Miles explains.
“The relationship over the last five years has been a good one, but certain synergies were lacking between WealthTrust’s parent and us that didn’t support our environment,” Miles explains. For example, three years ago Miles created a fund that focused on water sustainability and alternative energy issues. Although that fund was beginning to develop a healthy investor base, the parent company pulled the plug during the recent economic downturn. “It was the absolute worst time to close that fund,” notes Miles. “But it was indicative that in order for us to pursue the ideas we were generating internally, it was better for us to become independent again, with no oversight from an outside party.”
The firm aims to bring in more of its HNW base, as well as institutional investors, by rebranding its flagship value opportunities fund. Kingfisher Capital maintains a stable of value-oriented and opportunistic equity strategies. Eleven WealthTrust affiliates remain, located throughout the United Sates. Calls to WealthTrust LLC were not returned by presstime.
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