MutualFundWire.com: Heartland Trims Staff

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Friday, March 30, 2001

Heartland Trims Staff

Heartland Funds has had a course correction, returning to its original value investing heading after a disastrous venture into the world of non-investment grade bonds. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin firm restructured earlier in the year to accommodate a leaner operating style and is cooking up a marketing campaign to focus on the firm's strengths.

The firm dropped $437 million in assets under management between March 31 of 2000 and January 31 of this year (data from Financial Research Corporation). Like many firms that have suffered asset losses in the same period, Heartland has brought down its staffing levels.

"We are smaller here than we were a year ago," said Aaron Picard, investment communications manager, when asked about staff cutbacks at the firm. He would not characterize the job cuts as layoffs, explaining, "We did have a small corporate restructuring early in this calendar year."

Picard would not specify the number of jobs eliminated at the firm. He emphasized that the broad-based reductions were designed to suit the firm's effort to refocus on its fundamentals.

"It was more that we were trying to match the company's direction with our people's best talents," he said.

Is Heartland ripe for acquisition?

"It would surprise me," Picard said, although some have observed that the employee-owned firm is ripe for the picking. In today's depressed market and without strong backing, supporting the

The firm is trying to cast its troubles into the rubbish heap of old news, regrouping its efforts to focus on an investing strategem that has paid off in the long run. "We're taking this as an opportunity to really focus on what started this firm and what we really do best, and that's value investing," said Picard.

Between the bear market and noise surrounding Heartland's ill-fated bond funds, the firm faces a marketing challenge. Without giving any details, Picard hinted that a new marketing effort is starting to come into focus for the firm.

"We're really exploring ways of getting our message across as to what it means to be a value investor and what it can mean to add value to people's portfolios," he said.

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