DoubleLine Equities Growth Fund
DoubleLine Equities Growth Fund (DLEGX) will invest mostly in U.S. companies and in foreign ones which trade on American exchanges through ADRs. The managers profess a “bottom up” approach to identify investment. They’re looking for a set of reasonable and unremarkable characteristics: consistent and growing earnings, strong balance sheet, good competitive position, good management and so on. The fund will be managed by Husam Nazer and Brendt Stallings, former TCW managers recently recruited to DoubleLine. The minimum initial investment in the retail class is $2,000, reduced to $500 for IRAs. The expense ratio will be 1.31% after waivers.
DoubleLine Equities Global Technology Fund
DoubleLine Equities Global Technology Fund (DLETX) intends to invest in global, all-cap equity portfolio of techn-related companies including those involved the development, marketing, or commercialization of technology or products or services related to or dependent on tech. The managers profess a “bottom up” approach to identify investment. They’re looking for a set of reasonable and unremarkable characteristics: consistent and growing earnings, strong balance sheet, good competitive position, good management and so on. The fund will be managed by Husam Nazer and Brendt Stallings, former TCW managers recently recruited to DoubleLine. The minimum initial investment in the retail class is $2,000, reduced to $500 for IRAs. The expense ratio will be 1.36% after waivers.
Geneva Advisors International Growth Fund
Geneva Advisors International Growth Fund will pursue long-term capital appreciation by investing in high-quality companies from around the world. (I know it says “International” but the statement of investing strategies says “investing primarily in common stocks of U.S. and foreign issuers”). The fund will be managed by Robert C. Bridges, John P. Huber and Daniel P. Delany. Bridges and Huber run two other very solid, low expense funds for Geneva. All three guys are former Wm. Blair employees; Bridges and Huber left in 2003 to found Geneva, Delaney joined in 2012. The minimum initial purchase is $1000. Expense ratio will be 1.45%.
Pear Tree PanAgora Risk Parity Emerging Markets Fund
Pear Tree PanAgora Risk Parity Emerging Markets Fund will invest in emerging markets stocks, using a proprietary risk parity strategy. A risk parity strategy attempts to balance risk across the countries, sectors and issuers. The model assigns a country-, sector-, and issuer-risk value to each emerging market security and then builds a portfolio of securities that balances those risks, rather than relies on the securities’ market weights. The fund will be managed by Edward Qian, Chief Investment Manager and Head of Multi Asset Research at PanAgora and Bryan Belton, a PanAgora manager. The minimum initial investment in the retail class is $2,500, reduced to $1000 for IRAs. The expense ratio will be 1.37% after waivers.
Robeco Boston Partners Global Long/Short Fund
Robeco Boston Partners Global Long/Short Fund will seek long-term growth of capital through a global long/short equity strategy and some cash. They expect to be 50% long and 40-60% short. Robeco is, in case you hadn’t heard, really good at long/short investing. They expect at least 40% international exposure (compared to 10% in their flagship long/short fund and 15% in the new long/short Research fund. There are very few constraints in the prospectus on their investing universe. The fund will be managed by Jay Feeney, an original Boston Partner, co-CEO and CIO-Equities, and Christopher K. Hart, Equity Portfolio Manage. Mr. Feeney comanages Robeco Boston Partners Long/Short Research and John Hancock3 Disciplined Value Mid Cap, both of which are very strong funds. Mr. Hart comanages Robeco Boston Partner’s global and international funds, which have shorter records which are good rather than great. The minimum initial investment in the retail class is $2,500. The expense ratio will be 3.77% after waivers. Let me just say: “Yikes.” At the risk of repeating myself, “Yikes!”
T. Rowe Price Global Allocation Fund
T. Rowe Price Global Allocation Fund will seek long-term capital appreciation and income through a broadly diversified global portfolio of stocks, bonds, cash and alternative investments. The baseline asset allocation will be 60% stocks, 30% bonds and cash and 10% alternative investments. They’ll actively adjust those allocations based on its assessment of U.S. and global economic and market conditions, interest rate movements, industry and issuer conditions and business cycles, and so on. They may invest in publicly-traded assets, but also derivatives, Price funds, unregistered hedge funds or other private or registered investment companies. Normally half of its stocks and one third of its bonds will be non-US, though the managers will hedge their currency exposure. The fund will be managed by Charles Shriver. He joined Price in 1991 and is the lead manager for their Balanced, Personal Strategy and Spectrum funds. He has between $500,000 and $1 million invested in those funds. The minimum initial purchase is $2500, reduced to $1000 for IRAs. Expense ratio will be 1.05%.
Teton Westwood Mid-Cap Equity Fund
Teton Westwood Mid-Cap Equity Fund will pursue to provide long-term capital growth of capital and future income. They’ll buy mid-cap stocks which have good growth potential, strong balance sheets, attractive products, strong competitive positions and high quality management so long as they’re selling at reasonable prices. The fund will be managed by Diane M. Wehner and Charles F. Stuart. They’ve been managing mid-cap portfolios for GE Asset Management for more than a decade. “AAA” shares should be available without a load through fund supermarkets. The minimum initial purchase is $1000, reduced to $250 for various tax-advantaged products. The minimum is waived for accounts set up with an AIP. Expense ratio will be 1.50%.
Villere Equity Fund
Villere Equity Fund will seek long-term growth by investing in 20-30 US stocks. They use a bottom-up approach to select domestic equity securities that they believe will offer growth regardless of the economic cycle, interest rates or political climate. It will be an all-cap portfolio with no more than 10% investing internationally. The fund will be managed by George V. Young and Sandy Villere, the team behind Villere Balanced (VILLX). Mr. Villere, cousin to Mr. Young, just became a co-manager of VILLX in December, 2012. The minimum initial purchase is $2000. Expense ratio will be 1.26%.
