BBH Core Fixed Income Fund
BBH Core Fixed Income Fund will try to provide maximum total return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management. The plan is to buy a well-diversified portfolio of durable, performing fixed income instruments. The fund will be managed by Andrew P. Hofer and Neil Hohmann. The opening expense ratio has not yet been set. The minimum initial investment will be $25,000.
Brown Advisory Total Return Fund
Brown Advisory Total Return Fund will seek a high level of current income consistent with preservation of principal. The plan is to invest in a variety of fixed-income securities with an average duration of 3 to 7 years. Up to 20% might be invested in high yield. The fund will be managed by Thomas D.D. Graff. The opening expense ratio hasn’t been announced and the minimum initial investment will be $5,000, reduced to $2,000 for IRAs and funds with automatic investing plans.
Brown Advisory Multi-Strategy Fund
Brown Advisory Multi-Strategy Fund will seek long-term capital appreciation and current income. It will be a 60/40 fund of funds, including other Brown Advisory funds. The fund will be managed by Paul Chew. The opening expense ratio hasn’t been announced and the minimum initial investment will be $5,000, reduced to $2,000 for IRAs and funds with automatic investing plans.
Brown Advisory Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund
Brown Advisory Emerging Markets Small-Cap Fund will seek total return by investing in, well, emerging markets small cap stocks. They have the option to use derivatives to hedge the portfolio. The fund will be managed by [ ] and [ ]. Here’s my reaction to that: an asset class is dangerously overbought when folks start filing prospectuses where they don’t even have managers lined up, much less managers with demonstrable success in the field. The opening expense ratio will be 1.92% for Investor Shares and the minimum initial investment will be $5,000, reduced to $2,000 for IRAs and funds with automatic investing plans.
Cambria Global Asset Allocation ETF (GAA)
Cambria Global Asset Allocation ETF (GAA) will seek “absolute positive returns with reduced volatility, and manageable risk and drawdowns, by identifying an investable portfolio of equity and fixed income securities, real estate, commodities and currencies.” The fund is nominally passive but it tracks a highly active index, so the distinction seems a bit forced. The fund will be managed by Mebane T. Faber and Eric W. Richardson. The opening expense ratio has not yet been announced.
Catalyst Tactical Hedged Futures Strategy Fund
Catalyst Tactical Hedged Futures Strategy Fund will seek capital appreciation with low correlation to the equity markets. The plan is to write short-term call and put options on S&P 500 Index futures, and invest in cash and cash equivalents, including high-quality short-term fixed income securities such as U.S. Treasury securities. The fund will be managed by Gerald Black and Jeffrey Dean of sub-adviser ITB Capital Management. The opening expense ratio is not yet set. The minimum initial investment will be $2500.
Catalyst/Princeton Hedged Income Fund
Catalyst/Princeton Hedged Income Fund will seek capital appreciation with low correlation to the equity markets. The plan is to invest 40% in floating rate bank loans and the rest in some combination of investment grade and high yield fixed income securities. They’ll then attempt to hedge risks by actively shorting some indexes and using options and swaps to manage short term market volatility risk, credit risk and interest rate risk. They use can a modest amount of leverage and might invest 15% overseas. The fund will be managed by Munish Sood of Princeton Advisory. The opening expense ratio is not yet set. The minimum initial investment will be $2500.
Causeway International Small Cap Fund
Causeway International Small Cap Fund will seek long-term capital growth. The plan is to use quantitative screens to identify attractive stocks with market caps under $7.5 billion. The fund might overweight or underweight its investments in a particular country by 5% relative to their weight in the MSCI ACWI ex USA Small Cap Index. They can also put 10% of the fund in out-of-index positions. The fund will be managed byArjun Jayaraman, MacDuff Kuhnert, and Joe Gubler. This same team manages Global Absolute Return, Emerging Markets and International Opportunities. The opening expense ratio will be 1.56% and the minimum initial investment will be $5,000, reduced to $4,000 for IRAs.
Context Macro Opportunities Fund
Context Macro Opportunities Fund will seek total return with low correlation to broad financial markets. The plan is to use a number of arbitrage and alternative investment strategiesincluding but not limited to, break-even inflation trading, capital structure arbitrage, hedged mortgage-backed securities trading and volatility spread trading to allocate the Fund’s assets. The fund will be managed by a team from First Principles Capital Management, LLC. There is a separate accounts composite whose returns have been “X.XX% since <<Month d, yyyy>>.” The opening expense ratio has not yet been announced. The minimum initial investment will be $2000, reduced to $250 for IRAs.
Crawford Dividend Yield Fund
Crawford Dividend Yield Fund will seek to provide attractive long-term total return with above average dividend yield, in comparison with the Russell 1000 Value© Index. The plan is to buy stocks with above average dividend yields backed by consistent businesses, adequate cash flow generation and supportive balance sheets. The fund will be managed by John H. Crawford, IV, CFA. The opening expense ratio will be 1.01% and the minimum initial investment will be $10,000.
Greenleaf Income Growth Fund
Greenleaf Income Growth Fundwill seek increasing dividend income over time. The plan is to buy securities that the managers think will increase their dividends or other income payouts over time. Those securities might include equities, REITs and master limited partnerships (MLPs). They can also use covered call writing and put selling in an attempt to enhance returns. The fund will be managed by Geofrey Greenleaf, CFA, and Rakesh Mehra. The opening expense ratio will be 1.4x% and the minimum initial investment will be $10,0000 reduced to $5,000 for IRAs and funds with automatic investing plans.
Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund
Heartland Mid Cap Value Fund will seek long-term capital appreciation and “modest” current income. That’s actually kinda cute. The plan is to invest in 30-60 midcaps, using the same portfolio discipline used in all the other Heartland funds. The fund will be managed by Colin P. McWey and Theodore D. Baszler. For the past 10 years Mr. Baszler has co-managed Heartland Select Value (HRSVX) which is also a mid-cap value fund with about the same number of holdings and the same core discipline. Anyone even vaguely interested here owes it to themselves to check there first. The opening expense ratio will be 1.25% and the minimum initial investment will be $1,000, reduced to $500 for IRAs and Coverdells.
ICON High Yield Bond Fund
ICON High Yield Bond Fund will seek high current income and growth of capital (for now, at least, but since that goal was described as “non-fundamental” …). The plan is to buy junk bonds, including preferred and convertibles in that definition. Up to 20% might be non-dollar denominated. The fund will be managed by Zach Jonson and Donovan J. (Jerry) Paul. They manage two one-star funds (ICON Bond and ICON Risk-Managed Balanced) together. Caveat emptor. The opening expense ratio will be 0.80% and the minimum initial investment will be $1,000.
Leader Global Bond Fund
Leader Global Bond Fund will seek current income (hopefully a lot of it, given the expense ratio). The plan is to assemble a global portfolio of investment- and non-investment grade bonds. The fund will be managed by John E. Lekas, founder of Leader Capital Corp., and Scott Carmack. The opening expense ratio will be 1.92% for Investor shares and the minimum initial investment will be $2500.
WCM Alternatives: Event-Driven Fund (WCERX)
WCM Alternatives: Event-Driven Fund (WCERX) will try to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns with low relative volatility in virtually all market environments. They’ll try to capture arbitrage-like gains from events such as mergers, acquisitions, asset sales or other divestitures, restructurings, refinancings, recapitalizations, reorganizations or other special situations. The fund will be managed by Roy D. Behren and Mr. Michael T. Shannon of Westchester Capital Management. The opening expense ratio for Investor shares will be 2.23%. The minimum initial investment is $2000.
Wellington Shields All-Cap Fund
Wellington Shields All-Cap Fund will seek capital appreciation, according to a largely incoherent SEC filing. The plan is to use “various screens and models” to assemble an all-cap stock portfolio. The fund will be managed by “Cripps and McFadden.” The opening expense ratio will be something but I don’t know what – the prospectus is for retail shares but lists a 1.5% e.r. for a non-existent institutional class. The minimum initial investment will be $1000.
William Blair Directional Multialternative Fund
William Blair Directional Multialternative Fund will seek “capital appreciation with moderate volatility and directional exposure to global equity and bond markets through the utilization of hedge fund or alternative investment strategies.” That sounds expensive. The plan is to divide the money between a bunch of hedge funds and liquid alt teams. Sadly, they’re not yet ready to reveal who those teams will be. The opening expense ratio has not yet been disclosed. The minimum initial investment will be $2500.
