Vanguard has tapped UK-based Baillie Gifford Overseas to subadvise two more funds.

Baillie Gifford will join Acadian Asset Management, AllianceBernstein and Marathon Asset Management in running the Vanguard Global Equity Fund. It will also team up with Turner Investment Partners in managing the Vanguard Growth Equity Fund.

Since 2003, Baillie Gifford has subadvised part of the Vanguard International Growth Fund and the international portfolio of the Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund.

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Company Press Release

VALLEY FORGE, PA, April 11, 2008 – Vanguard has added Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. as an advisor to the $6.9 billion Vanguard® Global Equity Fund (VHGEX) and the $980 million Vanguard Growth Equity Fund (VGEQX).

Baillie Gifford joins current Global Equity Fund advisors Acadian Asset Management, AllianceBernstein L.P., and Marathon Asset Management LLP. Baillie Gifford teams with Turner Investment Partners in the management of the Growth Equity Fund.

Baillie Gifford has advised portions of the $18.4 billion Vanguard International Growth Fund (VWIGX) and the $1.9 billion International Portfolio of the Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund (VVIF) since 2003. The firm employs a long-term oriented, valuation-sensitive growth philosophy. Its bottom-up approach seeks high-quality companies whose earnings and cash flows increase faster than the market.

“Baillie Gifford’s deep management team, research expertise, and experience make it an ideal advisor for these funds. The firm’s investment strategy will augment those of our existing advisors and benefit the funds through diversity in approach,” said Vanguard Chairman and CEO John J. Brennan. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our relationship with Baillie Gifford.”

Baillie Gifford’s U.S. investment team, which will manage assets in the Growth Equity Fund, is led by Mick Brewis, a partner and member of the Investment Policy Committee who has been with the firm since 1985. The team that will manage Baillie Gifford’s portion of the Global Equity Fund is led by Charles Plowden, a joint senior partner and chief of investment staff who has been with Baillie Gifford since 1983. Both teams work out of Baillie Gifford’s Edinburgh, Scotland, headquarters.

Baillie Gifford is among the largest independently owned investment management firms in the United Kingdom. Organized as a partnership with 100% ownership disbursed among 30 active partners, Baillie Gifford has approximately U.S. $110 billion in assets under management in global equity, EAFE and balanced mandates. Approximately U.S. $12 billion of that is in U.S. assets, including U.S. portions of global products.

Fourteen of Vanguard’s actively managed stock funds are multimanaged. Vanguard has relationships with 24 external advisory firms from around the world that manage approximately $357 billion. Vanguard, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is one of the world’s largest investment management companies and a leading provider of company-sponsored retirement plan services. Vanguard manages nearly $1.25 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets, including more than $392 billion in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Vanguard offers more than 150 funds to U.S. investors and more than 40 additional funds in foreign markets.  

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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