A $6-billion-AUM (as of March 1) institutional asset manager backed by Mohamed El-Erian is powering a new, actively managed mutual fund from another firm in the Gotham area.

Mohamed El-Erian Gramercy Funds Management LLC Chair, Shareholder

On Wednesday, Tim Reick, CEO of Liberty Street Advisors Inc. [profile], and Robert Koenigsberger, managing partner and chief investment officer of Gramercy Funds Management LLC, unveiled the launch the Gramercy Emerging Markets Debt Fund. The new fund's inception date was Monday, and it is a series of Investment Managers Series Trust.

The new fund comes in three flavors: A shares (GFEAX), with an upfront load of up to 425 basis points, a deferred load of up to 100bps, and an expense ratio of 110bps; C shares (GFECX), with a deferred load of up to 100bps and an expense ratio of 185bps; and institutional shares (GFEMX), with an expense ratio of 85bps.

New York City-based Liberty Street serves as investment advisor to the new fund, while Greenwich, Connecticut-based Gramercy serves as subadvisor. The PM team includes: Belinda Hill, managing director and portfolio manager at Gramercy; and Philip Meier, partner and PM at Gramercy.

The Gramercy and Liberty Street teams confirm that Gramercy's "thematic top-down assessment" will also contribute to the new fund's management and strategy. That assessment is led by Koenigsberger and El-Erian, who is chair of Gramercy.

El-Erian, the one-time Pimco CEO who now leads Cambridge's Queens' College, puts the Gramercy fund launch in the context of what he describes as the maturation of emerging markets fixed income.

"With emerging economies now accounting for about half of the global economy, their evolution over the last decade offers interesting and quite diverse investment opportunities," El-Erian states.

Reick lauds Gramercy as "a global leader in the emerging markets space."

"This is an asset class that is increasingly becoming part of a strategic investor's toolkit," Reick states. "We look forward to integrating the expertise of the Gramercy investment team, aiming to deliver consistent performance and value to long-term investors."

Koenigsberger describes Gramercy as having "a strong track record of providing investors with a better approach to emerging markets."

"We are excited to partner with Liberty Street to provide our investors additional access to emerging markets through this Fund launch," Koenigsberger states. "The Fund will further advance our position in emerging markets public credit and provide an opportunity for investment from a differentiated client base."

Meier reveals that he and Hill will combine "top-down themes and proprietary bottom-up research" to power the new fund.

"We believe Gramercy's expertise across the emerging market debt spectrum coupled with Liberty Street's collaboration will help us to achieve quality risk adjusted results for our clients," Meier states.

Hill puts the fund launch in the context of the Gramercy team continuing to "strive for innovation."

"As investors increasingly adopt a global perspective, we believe this fund will serve as a valuable portfolio building block," Hill states.

The new fund's other service providers include: ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor and principal underwriter; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel; Mutual Fund Administration, LLC as co-administrator; Tait, Weller & Bake LLP as independent accounting firm; UMB Bank, n.a. as custodian; and UMB Fund Services, Inc. (UMBFS) as co-administrator, dividend disbursing agent, fund accountant, and transfer agent. 

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