Madison Asset Management

Madison Asset Management primarily serves institutional and pooled-vehicle investors, acting as investment adviser to the Madison Funds, the Ultra Series Fund, and several Madison ETFs while also providing discretionary and sub-advisory portfolio management for wrap programs and customized institutional accounts. Its client base, as described in the brochure, includes financial intermediaries, institutional funds, pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations, endowments, municipalities and insurance companies, and it generally manages assets on a discretionary basis.

The firm’s investment approach emphasizes active fixed-income management, risk-managed equity strategies, asset allocation models and equity option strategies (including covered-call writing) under the “Participate and Protect®” philosophy. Equity strategies are described as bottom-up, fundamental stock selection and Madison discloses that it prepares performance presentations in accordance with GIPS and will provide composite descriptions and related materials on request.

Madison’s structure and offerings distinguish it from many peers: it acts as portfolio manager for multiple investment companies and serves as sub-adviser to funds that employ options strategies (including a closed-end fund and affiliated covered-call series), and it operates with an affiliated broker-dealer (MFD Distributor, LLC) that distributes its affiliated funds and registers some employees as representatives. The brochure also notes that the firm’s institutional client mix includes pension/profit-sharing plans and other institutional accounts that larger managers commonly serve, and that performance materials and compliance with industry presentation standards are available to prospective clients.