Caldwell & Orkin recently replaced its transfer agent and distributor, hiring ALPS as its new vendor.

Norcross, Georgia-based Caldwell & Orkin, which runs the $390 million Caldwell & Orkin Market Opportunity Fund replaced JPMorgan Fund Services with ALPS Fund Services in February. It moved from IFS Fund Distributors to ALPS Distributors last November.

On the transfer agency side, Caldwell had been a client of Integrated Investment Services (formerly Integrated Fund Services), which in 2007 was purchased by JPMorgan from Western & Southern Financial. That deal did not include IFS Fund Distributors. In January 2008, Western & Southern told IFS Fund Distributors clients to look for a new vendor because the distribution organization was shutting down at the end of 2009.

Caldwell evaluated both distributor-only options and full-service providers, said Bill Horne, chief compliance officer and director of client services.

On the distributor-only side, ALPS and two others made the finals. For the full-service, it came down to ALPS and one other company. Horne declined to identify the other finalists.

"We've been with one company for a long time," Horne said, noting the synergies and economies of scale that come with dealing with just a single provider.

"ALPS has a good technology platform," said Horne. "It integrates all the pieces."

"They were very efficient during the conversion process. All the I's were crossed and T's were dotted," he added. 

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