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  • The prospectus is dated May 27 but the fund isn't live yet. I'm puzzled that Morningstar doesn't list it at all - usually they have pre-ticker listings for funds in registration - and mildly irked that I haven't been able to get Artisan to talk about a launch date.

    In any case, I'm watching it. I anticipate that, immediately upon launch, our short-list of "emerging markets funds quite worth your money" will grow by one.

    David
  • A little spendy, eh?
  • edited June 2015
    @David_Snowball
    Whoa, easy does it, pardner. It is one thing to talk/write about a new fund as having outstanding prospects. It is quite another thing to suggest it is a sure thing, can't miss, definite buy, before it has a single day of performance, let alone before it has even been constituted. Sometimes it doesn't work out. A lot of strange stuff can happen during the first night at the amusement park's Grand Opening. Chose to violate that 3 yr/5 yr rule 'cause it just feels "right", and come in too hard and too fast, and a year later you can find yourself sitting in a pile of goo.
  • edited June 2015
    I think David (while not positive) is referring to Lewis S. Kaufman's prior investing record with Thornburg, coupled with bringing that same investing approach to Artisan, will make it one of those funds worth watching and worth investing near its initial opening. I would not invest with someone in the opening if they had no prior investing experience or reputation.
  • TheShadow is exactly right. This is positioned as a clone of Thornburg Developing World (THDIX), which Mr. Kaufman managed from inception until February of this year. All told, he has about 10 years of E.M. investing experience. He built THDIX into a five-star fund which has roughly tripled the return of its peers since inception and has done so with lower volatility.

    In general, Artisan's new funds have performed exceptionally well (the current e.m. product, which wasn't launched in the retail market, is the exception). Artisan professes only ever to hire "category killers," then gives them both great support and great autonomy. That process has worked exceptionally well.

    I'm not sure what the strategy capacity here is, but I suspect that bloat and corporate meddling might have contributed to Mr. Kaufman's relocation. The Thornburg fund went from $100 million at the end of year three to $1.2 billion a year later. If my suspicion is true (again, haven't talked with him yet), then it's likely that capacity in the new fund might be closer to $1 billion than to THDIX's current $2+ billion.

    It might be that uprooting Mr. K. from Thornburg's rich analyst corps will cause him to wither but the experience of Seafarer and Grandeur Peak give us some reason to be optimistic that the transplant will take.

    Regrets for any excess enthusiasm. I might have been overcompensating for the glumness perceived in my June essay.

    David
  • David S.: "It might be that uprooting Mr. K. from Thornburg's rich analyst corps will cause him to wither ...."

    That's my question exactly about LK at Artisan; what kind of analyst support will he have there?

    I see the prospectus (both forms) & SAI are on the Artisan site now, but there's been no news item about the launch there yet, afaik.
  • @JoJo26, Artisan funds tend to be higher than that of the average mutual funds. Perhaps in the future retail investors MAY gain access to the lower expense Advisor shares with lower minimum for IRA accounts. For now the minimum is $250K.
  • David, do you think it's fair to assume this new Artisan fund is most likely to be of the large growth variety? From what I can tell the Thornburg fund was mostly large growth although it may have dipped into the mid-cap range one year. Artisan's prospectus says the fund isn't restricted on the size of the companies it invests in.

    Thanks!
  • edited June 2015
    I just called Artisan. A representative indicated that the Developing World fund is to be rolled out around the end of this month.
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