With a $380-million-AUM pair of adoptions last week, Greg Stumm and his team have boosted the American Beacon [profile] lineup to 29 funds in total (including 27 open-end mutual funds and 2 ETFs). And Stumm's team is preparing to wrap up a third adoption, again from the same firm, in about three months.

Gregory John "Greg" Stumm, Jr. Resolute Investment Managers, American Beacon Advisors President and CEO

On Monday, Stumm, president and CEO of American Beacon Advisors, Inc. (and of its parent, Resolute Investment Managers), and Richard Garland, head of the global advisor business at Ninety One, revealed that last Friday, November 15, American Beacon adopted the Ninety One Global Franchise Fund and the Ninety One International Franchise Fund, transforming them into the American Beacon Ninety One Global Franchise Fund and the American Beacon Ninety One International Franchise Fund, respectively. Meanwhile, per a September 30 filing, American Beacon's planned adoption of Ninety One's other U.S. mutual fund, the Ninety One Emerging Markets Equity Fund, is scheduled for February 21, 2025.

"American Beacon and Ninety One’s mutual objective is to distribute a diverse range of products and vehicles across all US wealth channels," a spokesperson for American Beacon tells MFWire. "We've seen great success in our partnership with Ninety One thus far, and absolutely see this relationship as one that we will keep for the long term."

(Ninety One also had a fourth U.S. mutual fund, the Ninety One Global Environment Fund, but it does not appear to be part of the American Beacon deal and the Ninety One team liquidated that fund on October 30.)

The American Beacon team has made a host of changes to the freshly adopted Ninety One Funds, but in terms of business and operations, not on the investing side. As planned, London-based Ninety One's Ninety One North America, Inc. arm, formerly the two funds' investment advisor, handed that role to Irving, Texas-based American Beacon but is staying on as subadvisor. SS&C Global Investor & Distribution Solutions, Inc. (SS&C GIDS) continues to serve as transfer agent and dividend paying agent to both funds.

The investment strategies and PM teams for both adopted funds remain unchanged. Ninety One portfolio manager Elias Erickson, who has PMed the Ninety One International Franchise Fund since inception (August 31, 2021), will continue to PM the adopted fund, alongside Ninety One PM Abrie Pretorius and head of quality Clyde Rossouw (who joined the PM team back in the spring 2024). And Rossouw, who has PMed the Ninety One Global Franchise Fund since inception (December 11, 2017), will continue to PM that adopted fund, alongside Erickson, Pretorius, and PM Paul Vincent (who all joined the PM team back in spring 2024).

As of September 30, 2024, the now-adopted global fund had $375 million in AUM, while the now-adopted international fund had $5.2 million in AUM. Both funds now offer three share classes: Y shares (ZFGAX for the global fund, ZIFAX for the international fund), with an expense ratio of 92 basis points; R5 shares (ZGFIX and ZIFIX, respectively) for 85bps; and R6 shares (ZGFRX and ZIFRX, respectively) for 82bps. All of those share classes are no load, and the expense ratios all bake in a 2bps fee waiver promised through November 30, 2027.

The Y shares replace the adopted funds' A shares, which had 575bps front-end loads and 110bps expense ratios. The adopted funds also previously had I shares (ZGEIX for the global fund, ZIFIX for the international one) for 85bps.

The two adopted funds are now both series of American Beacon Fund. Both funds were formerly series of the Advisors' Inner Circle Fund III.

As for the rest of the adopted funds' service providers, American Beacon succeeded SEI Investments Global Funds Services as the funds' administrator. K&L Gates LLP succeeded Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as the funds' counsel. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP succeeded Ernst & Young LLP as the funds' independent accounting firm. Resolute Investment Distributors, Inc. succeeded SEI Investments Distribution Co. as the funds' distributor. And State Street Bank and Trust Co. succeeded Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. as the funds' custodian, and also serves as foreign custody manager, securities lending agent, and sub-administrator.

Stumm puts the Ninety One adoptions in the context of the Resolute and American Beacon teams' continuing efforts to seek out and "add high-quality asset management partners." He lauds Ninety One as "a highly respected global asset manager."

"We are thrilled to bring their competencies even deeper into the U.S. wealth market. Following on Resolute’s successful partnership with Ninety One to distribute two of their separately managed account strategies in January 2024, the Funds represent a natural progression in our relationship," Stumm states. "These adoptions will allow us to meet the increasing demand for global and international fund offerings, expand the scale of the Funds, and extend Ninety One's presence in the U.S. wealth market. Our mutual objective is to distribute a diverse range of products and vehicles across all U.S. wealth channels."

Garland describes the two adopted funds as "concentrated portfolios of high-quality businesses with exceptional characteristics, which has enabled them to compound free cash flows over long periods."

"By partnering with American Beacon and Resolute, we continue to build our U.S. footprint through their strong distribution network, offering quality investment capabilities to meet the long-term needs of investors," Garland states. "We believe the market undervalues the ability of quality companies with enduring competitive advantages and disciplined capital allocation to deliver persistently high or improving cash flows and returns on invested capital." 

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