Herbert J. Sims & Co.

Investment-banking and asset-management decisions are made by the firm's partnership-led committee structure. John O'Kane was named President in October 2022, succeeding William Sims, who remained Chairman through the transition. The fixed-income portfolio-management team operates under the firm's registered investment-advisor entity, with credit-committee oversight for real-estate fund acquisitions.

The firm's underwriting pipeline originates from long-standing relationships with state housing-finance agencies, public housing authorities, and nonprofit developers that issue tax-exempt bonds. As an approved multi-family seller/servicer for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the firm also sources loans that can be securitized through agency programs. Its private-placement real-estate funds acquire assets directly through broker networks in secondary and tertiary markets.

Herbert J. Sims operates as a partnership-owned broker-dealer and registered investment advisor, not a single-family office. The Sims family has been involved in leadership since founding, but the firm serves external institutional and retail clients. The current structure includes a broker-dealer underwriting municipal bonds and a separate RIA managing fixed-income and real-estate portfolios.

The firm targets the origination and placement of debt at issuance, not venture-stage equity. Municipal bonds are underwritten for new construction or rehabilitation of affordable-housing and healthcare properties. Real-estate funds typically acquire stabilized multifamily assets with existing cash flow rather than ground-up development. The firm does not participate in venture capital or growth-equity rounds.

The firm does not underwrite corporate equity offerings, venture-capital partnerships, or speculative-grade corporate debt. Its municipal-bond franchise focuses almost exclusively on housing and healthcare credits, avoiding general-obligation bonds for non-essential purposes, stadium financings, and distressed municipals. Real-estate funds avoid office, retail, and hotel properties, concentrating on workforce multifamily housing.

The firm's asset-management platform invests client capital into individual municipal bonds and direct real-estate assets rather than third-party fund commitments. Its own sponsored real-estate funds accept limited-partner capital for direct-property acquisitions. The firm has not historically acted as a fund-of-funds allocator to outside GPs.

The firm maintains approved seller/servicer status with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for multifamily loans, and is approved to underwrite Ginnie Mae securities backed by FHA-insured mortgages. These relationships, built since the agencies' creation, allow the firm to originate and securitize loans through government-sponsored programs — a channel most boutique broker-dealers cannot access directly.