MutualFundWire.com: Stork and Reaper for October 19, 2012
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Friday, October 19, 2012

Stork and Reaper for October 19, 2012


Births


Jeff Gundlach is again catering to his European fans. Next week Alma Capital will launch the Alma DoubleLine Core Plus Bond Fund, a Luxembourg-based UCITs fund powered by Gundlach's core plus fixed income strategy. This Los Angeles-based DoubleLine's [profile] second foray into Europe, following the launch of a total return UCITS fund from Nordea. Alma has offices in Casablanca, London, Luxembourg and Paris.

On Tuesday Kansas City, Missouri-based Scout Investments [profile] unveiled the Scout Emerging Markets Fund. It's PMed by Mark Weber and co-PMed by Eric Chenoweth.

As MFWire previously reported, on Tuesday Vanguard [profile] launched a short-term TIPS fund, the Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index, available in both traditional mutual fund and ETF shares.

Invesco PowerShares' [profile] PowerShares S&P 500 High Divided Portfolio ETF debuted yesterday on the NYSE Arca. MFWire reported on Wednesday about the launch.

As MFWire reported on Wednesday, this week Emerging Global Advisors [profile] launched the EGShares Emerging Markets Core ETF.

On Monday MFWire reported that BlackRock's iShares [profile] unit launched 10 ETFs under the new iShares Core Series moniker.

Pregnancies


As previously reported, First Trust [profile] filed to launch an active, junk bond ETF, the First Trust High Yield Long/Short ETF [filing].

Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reported that BlackRock [profile] filed to launch a trio of new funds.
  • The first, BlackRock Market Advantage, will be a multiasset fund PMed by Philip Green, Philip Hodges, Ked Hogan, Vincent de Martel and Ugo Montrucchio [filing].
  • The second, BlackRock Short Obligations, is a short-term bond fund that will be PMed by Michael Evan and Richard Mejzak [filing].
  • And the third, BlackRock Ultra-Short Obligations, is another short-term bond fund, this one with Eric Hiatt and Thomas Kolimago slated as PMs [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Janus [profile] filed to launch the Janus Diversified Alternatives Fund, PMed by new hires John Fujiwara and Andrew Weisman [filing].

    Gene Therapy


    Principal Funds [profile] hired Waltham, Massachusetts-based DDJ Capital, a $4-billion-AUM high yield asset manager, as a subadvisor for the five-star, neutral-rated, $5.4-billion Principal Global Diversified Income Fund. The fund's other subadvisors include: Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, Principal Real Estate Investors, Reaves W H & Co, Spectrum Asset Management, Stone Harbor Investment Partners and Tortoise Capital Advisors. DDJ is slated to start its work for the fund in January [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Fidelity [profile] added Gopal Reddy as co-PM of the two-star, $2.2-billion Fidelity Advisor Growth Opportunities Fund, alongside lead PM Steven Wymer [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Jonathan Sheridan no longer PMs [filing] the two-star, negative-rated, $1.6-billion Goldman Sachs Absolute Return Tracker Fund [profile]. Matthew Hoehn and Don Mulvihill are still listed as PMs of the fund [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Legg Mason [profile] added Margaret Vitrano as co-PM of two-star, neutral-rated, $816.8-million Legg Mason ClearBridge Large Cap Growth, with co-PM Scott Glasser slated to step down in March. Peter Bourbeau continues to co-PM the fund [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Tuesday UBS [profile] added Lee Munder as a subadvisor for the three-star, $267.2-million PACE International Emerging Markets Equity while dropping subadvisors Delaware Management Company [profile] and Pzena Investment Management on Monday. Mondrian Investment Partners and William Blair & Company continue to subadvise the fund [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Delaware readded Macquarie's Graham McDevitt as a PM for the four-star, $14.4-million Delaware International Bond Fund. Macquarie both owns Delaware and subadvises the fund. McDevitt previously PMed the fund from July 2011 through July 2012. Paul Grillo and Paul Matlack continue to PM the fund [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that David Cowan of GMO [profile] replaced Sam Wilderman, also of GMO, as PM of three-star, $2.2-billion USAA Income Stock [profile] [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Ian McIntosh of UBS replaced John Leonard, UBS Global Asset Management's global head of equities, as PM of the two-star, $1.2-billion USAA Growth & Income Fund [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that on December 31 Emily Baker will no longer PM the three-star, $166.4-million MainStay Epoch International Small Cap Fund [profile]. Eric Citerne, William Priest and Michael Welhoelter will continue to PM the fund [filing].

    Plastic Surgery


    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Schwab [profile] plans to rebrand its three-star, $415.9-million Schwab Premier Income Fund as Schwab Intermediate-Term Bond while cutting its expense ratio from 63 basis points to 45 bps. Both changes are slated for December 15 [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Fred Alger [profile] plans to rebrand the two-star, $19.9-million Alger Large Cap Growth Institutional Fund to Alger Capital Appreciation Focus at the end of 2012, changing it to an all-cap fund and shrinking its holdings count [filing].

    Marriages


    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Edward Yoon joined Fidelity's one-star, $238.9-million Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Growth Fund as a co-PM. The Boston Behemoth plans to merge Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Growth and one-star, $32.3-million Fidelity Advisor Growth Strategies into the two-star, neutral-rated, $1.7-billion Fidelity Advisor Stock Selector Mid Cap Fund [filing].

    Adoptions


    Last week New York City-based MainStay Investments, New York Life's mutual fund arm, finalized the adoption of the Marketfield Fund. Rebrand as the MainStay Marketfield Fund, the five-star, bronze-rated long-short equity fund boasts $3.2 billion in assets. That's up from $1.7 billion in June when MainStay revealed its adoption plans. Marketfield Asset Management remains as subadvisor to the fund, and Marketfield president is still the PM.

    Suspended Animation


    Brown Brothers Harriman & Co [profile] is preparing to close its BBH Core Select Fund to new investors. According to the New York City-based mutual fund shop, the five-star, silver-rated fund has attracted more than $1.5 billion in new assets since August. BBH plans to close the gate when the fund hits $3.5 billion — it currently has $3.3 billion, almost half of BBH's mutual fund assets.

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Invesco [profile] plans to close its $694.8-million Invesco Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy Fund to new investors on November 15 [filing].

    Deaths


    Forwards Funds [profile] filed yesterday to shut down the Forward CorePlus Fund. The San Francisco-based mutual fund shop plans to liquidate the three-star, $36.9-million fund on December 17 [filing].

    Today New York City-based WisdomTree [profile] revealed plans to shut down three ETFs: the $14.3-million WisdomTree LargeCap Growth Fund; the $6.6-million WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen Fund; and the $4.5-million WisdomTree Dreyfus South African Rand Fund.

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that ING [profile] plans to liquidate the two-star, $19.0-million ING Alternative Beta Fund on December 7, after closing it to new investments last week [filing].

    Morningstar's "Fund Times" column reports that Legg Mason's Royce [profile plans to liquidate the $1.9-million Royce Mid-Cap Service Fund next month while moving three co-PMs — Carl Brown, Brendan Hartman and Jim Stoeffel — to other funds' teams.


    Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=41728

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