Based in Irvine, Calif., Affinity manages assets for a variety of clients in the institutional and retail separate account space. The staff will remain based and operate out of Irvine, according to the memo sent by Chief Investment Officer Dennis Shea and Yie-Hsin Hung, head of strategic acquisitions and alliances.
Joining Morgan Stanley will be portfolio managers Stephen Pelensky, a managing director; Michael Petrino, executive director; and Jordan Floriani, vice president. Jeff Randolph, managing director, joined as a portfolio specialist. Vice President Jeff Thomas is now with Morgan’s U.S. & Americas Distribution team.
“As we continue to enhance our traditional product offerings through both organic launches and targeted acquisitions, Affinity will be an important complement to our current community of boutique,” the memo stated.
Affinity was established in 1992 by Gregory Lai, who was formerly an active equity portfolio manager and quantitative analyst at
