The team at a $50.1-billion-AUM (as of December 31, 2023), subadvised fund firm in Illinois are teaming up with a particular asset manager in Denmark for the second time in 18 months.

Kristof Marius Gleich Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc. President, Chief Investment Officer

Earlier this month, Kristof Gleich, president and chief investment officer of Chicago-based Harbor Capital Advisors [profile], unveiled the launch of the Harbor International Compounders Fund. The inception date of the new, actively managed, concentrated mutual fund was March 1, and it is a series of Harbor Funds.

The launch of the Harbor International Compounders Fund, an open-end mutual fund, comes a year and a half after the Harbor folks launched the Harbor International Compounders ETF (OSEA on the NYSE). That ETF's inception date was September 7, 2022, it had grown to $37.42 million in AUM as of last Friday (March 8, 2024), and it is a series of the Harbor ETF Trust.

The new Harbor International Compounders mutual fund comes in three share class flavors. Retirement shares (HNICX) have an expense ratio of 55 basis points (the same as the ETF, OSEA), institutional shares (HSICX) cost 63bps, and investor shares (HVICX) cost 99bps. All three share classes bake in 2,404bps of expense reimbursement promised through February 28, 2025.

Given their similar names, it's no surprise that the new open-end mutual fund appears to be powered by a similar strategy to the one behind the ETF. Indeed, the open-end fund and ETF share the same investment advisor (Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc.) and the same Copenhagen-based subadvisor (C Worldwide Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A/S). The same C Worldwide PM team handles both funds. The team includes CEO Bo Almar Knudsen and portfolio managers Mattias Kolm, Peter O'Really, and Bengt Seger.

"We believe C Worldwide provides expertise that our clients can rely on," Gleich states. "After the successful launch of the Harbor International Compounders ETF (OSEA) in 2022, we wanted to extend Harbor's and C Worldwide's reach to more clients in the United States whom we believe need that same expertise in the form of a mutual fund."

Gleich notes that Harbor Capital has been working together with C Worldwide since 1986.

"Being part of their distribution ecosystem, we are excited to be able to provide more clients with our compelling, concentrated, and thematic long-term investment process," Knudsen states.

The new fund's other service providers include: Ernst & Young LLP as independent accounting firm; Harbor Funds Distributors, Inc. as distributor (though Foreside is the ETF's distributor); Harbor services Group, Inc. as shareholder servicing agent and transfer agent (State Street is the ETF's transfer agent and dividend disbursing agent); and State Street and Bank and Trust Company as custodian and securities lending agent. 

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