(November 16 – 13:15 ET) – Assante Corp. hosted a conference call in an apparent vacuum this morning.

A brief presentation from Assante founder and CEO Martin Weinberg and chief financial officer Denis Tallieau garnered no questions from call participants. This is despite the fact that at least two analysts are supposed to be covering the stock.

CIBC World Markets, the firm that underwrote Assante’s initial public offering, has a strong buy on the firm. Last week CIBC told Dow Jones that as financial services are coming back into favour, “We think Assante’s been ignored”. Analysts were apparently ignoring the company today as well.

During the call Weinberg and Taillieau rehashed the results presented in Assante’s earnings release this morning. More interestingly, Weinberg revealed that Assante is looking for a strategic partner to allow it to deliver co-branded banking, credit card, debit card and other investment and banking products and services.

The obvious choice for partner is CIBC, which just unveiled precisely such a deal with Investors Group, and a couple of the life insurers in the Power Corp. stable of companies. Intriguingly, Assante has recently been the subject of takeover rumours with Investors tipped as the likely buyer.

Weinberg said that Assante expects to continue to focus on integrating its various acquistions over the next 12 months, and it is introducing uniform standards firm-wide for advisors and other employees. Assante has also established an SEC-registered advisor to deliver its products to its sports and entertainment channel in the U.S.

Being ignored by investors has been a problem for Assante since its IPO. Analysts cite the firm’s complex share structure and concentrated control as one of the reasons for their hesitance on the stock.

Access the conference call at: http://www.q1234.com/rmfiles/lmstse111600.ram