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Fidelity Brings Together Firepower Of Star Managers For New Fund

FYI: Fidelity Investments started a new mutual fund and tapped two of its most successful managers, William Danoff and Joel Tillinghast, to run it. There’s just one catch: it’s only available to Canadian investors.

Fidelity Global Growth and Value Class fund marks the first time the managers will run a fund together. The new product aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in companies anywhere in the world, according to a news release issued Thursday. It was created by Fidelity Investments Canada, which operates independently of the U.S. fund giant.
regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/fidelity-brings-together-firepower-of-star-managers-for-new-fund-39225.html?print

M*Canada:
http://news.morningstar.com/all/printNews.aspx?article=/CNW/20180614C4204_univ.xml

Comments

  • edited June 2018
    I protest. They should call it Fidelity Global Blend fund. They should be the first to have the word "Blend" in the fund name! Everyone at M* will then have orgasms!
  • haha, tell msf

    probably run by software program based on their own funds
  • Aah...Fidelity Machine Learning Global Large Blend fund. Symbol FU**X
  • Seems my ears are burning.

    ISTM that Fidelity has started using Danoff (and to a lesser extent Tillinghast) to pitch funds, much as it used to use Lynch.



    Fidelity used to care (at least to some extent) about overloading Danoff.

    Fidelity closed Contra in April 1998 so that Danoff could "continue to manage the fund effectively given his preference for mid-cap stocks" (Fidelity quote). Ain't that description a hoot? Contra's AUM at the time was 1/4 its current size ($32B vs. $128B).

    Fidelity reopened it only toward the end of 2000, after the fund had recently dropped 9% and experienced major outflows. Fidelity stated that the reopening was "to achieve a neutral cash flow".

    Fidelity pulled Danoff off of VIP Contrafund at the end of 2007

    Fidelity again closed Contra in April 2006. It reopened the fund only toward the end of 2008, after it had dropped 40% over the previous 12 months. Fidelity stated that the reopening was because it had "not been able to generate sufficient levels of new sales to offset current and future redemptions ... [Fidelity hoped to] bring some equilibrium to cash flows [so that Danoff could] effectively direct [his] investment strateg[y]."

    ---

    But that was then. These are the 2010s, when Fidelity is trying to staunch the outflow out of its actively managed AUM.

    In 2012, Fidelity launched its Fidelity Series funds to improve its floundering Freedom Funds (funds of funds). At the time, M* wrote: "While it's still unclear how Danoff and Tillinghast's new strategies will be used in the Freedom Fund portfolios, they'll likely at least displace some of the struggling funds and ultimately bolster the series' underlying lineup."

    Admittedly, FVWSX (and its clone, FAMGX) are small tasks for Danoff, currently with "just" $6.7B AUM and $1B AUM respectively. At $33M, it hardly seems worth mentioning the Fidelity Flex clone(?) created in 2017.

    Fidelity started selling comingled pools to 401k plans, since employers were leaving "regular" mutual funds. So in 2014, Danoff was given Contrafund Commingled Pool to manage, now holding $23B.

    Just last month, after a decade away from VIP Contrafund, Danoff was handed back this $20B fund to manage.

    So why not sell the Danoff name in Canada as well? It's not as though Fidelity Canada didn't already have enough managers. Oh, wait.
    https://www.fidelity.ca/fidca/en/products/pm/list

    Thus, in 2017 Danoff got his first Canadian charge. Now comes this second one.

    Compare this history with how Fidelity has treated Steve Wymer. His FDGRX fund was closed the same time as FCNTX in 2006, but never reopened. Like Danoff, he was taken off of his VIP fund, but he never had to go back to it. No Canadian funds for him either.

    Fidelity puts one manager front of the public and lets the other quietly run the superior fund.

    ---

    It used to be that New Insights was the preferred Danoff fund (assuming one could get in without the load), because it was smaller and supposedly more nimble. But it hasn't worked out so well - a three star fund with a performance rating of neutral (average). Danoff does not walk on water.

    Before buying the sizzle, check what's on the grill. It might be prime, might not be. I don't know, but I'd do a little research first.

  • >> "... given [Danoff's] preference for midcap stocks"

    that's odd right there
  • Is he is spreading himself a bit too thin? Large AUM has always been an issue even with a team of supporting co-managers. That is one of the reason I gravitated toward TRP funds years ago for actively managed funds and Vanguard for their index funds. A number of Vanguard actively managed funds are quite good as well.
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