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Evermore Global Value - Management's stake (or lack thereof)

Paul
edited July 2014 in Fund Discussions
Hey guys,

I was looking at Evermore Global Value and something seems amiss.

According to David's April update

http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2014/03/evermore-global-value-evgbx-april-2014/

According to the post, David Marcus has substantial amounts of his own money in the fund. I was looking at the SAI and it states that he has between $100,000-$500,000. For a guy investing for so long and a former hedge fund manager, this doesn't seem like a lot.

The article goes on to state "The fund provides all of Mr. Marcus’s equity exposure except for long-held legacy positions that predate the launch of Evermore" All of his equity exposure (outside of legacy positions) is less than half a million?

By the way, thanks, David for the great post on this one.

Comments

  • TedTed
    edited July 2014
    @Paul: Who cares what the manager stake is, the fund performance puts it one wing away from being a turkey.
    Regards,
    Ted
    Fund Performance: http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=EVGBX&region=usa&culture=en-US
  • David_Snowball
    Two quick thoughts: (1) many fund managers are actually not so filthy rich as you might imagine, in part because the cost of subsidizing a small mutual fund can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. And (2) much of his "earlier" money is locked up. As it becomes liquid again, his stated intention is to move it into Evermore.

    That's about all I got!

    David
  • VintageFreakVintageFreak
    I had bought into EVGBX at one point, but also sold quite a while back. Something just didn't feel right about this fund. Of course, that's totally unscientific. And something else happened. I found PTHDX.

    Irony is PTHDX is my sell candidate for this year since Gudefin ALSO does not show any assets. I don't care how poor (sic) fund manager is. You gotta invest $1 and then some in your own dang fund.
  • Paul
    Good points guys. The fund seems intriguing but has been a bit of a stinker. Still interesting though. thanks!
  • JimH
    As David noted several months ago Marcus was one of Mike Price's boys (Max Heine's grandkid?) and their "deep value" strategy seems to be less successful when markets only go up. We'll see how successful their style is when the market reverses (soon perhaps?) But as Junkster has advocated for years, get off the boat to nowhere and if for some reason you're attached to that boat, get back on when it starts to move in the direction you want to go.
  • scott
    I'm looking at this fund this morning and not really understanding the appeal aside from the manager's prior history ("past performance is not a guarantee of...") Other prior Mutual Series managers Anne Gudefin (Pimco Pathfinder) and David Winters (Wintergreen) have outperformed (substantially in the case of Winters) since inception.
  • Paul
    scott, that's the only reason I thought it was interesting - his pedigree. Expenses are on hte high side and performance has been pretty dismal.
  • scott
    edited July 2014
    Paul said:

    scott, that's the only reason I thought it was interesting - his pedigree. Expenses are on hte high side and performance has been pretty dismal.

    I haven't looked at the portfolio over time, but if it has been anything like the current one, I'm guessing high exposure to Europe has been problematic and I'm guessing was behind the fund's significant decline around mid-2011 (around the Greece-related Europe decline, I believe? The investment years run together.)

    Still, the fund's performance - despite the pedigree - is dismaying. I'd say watch it, see if things continue (although you have problems in Europe again and a fund that continues to have heavy exposure to it) and hopefully improve. I wouldn't invest at this point (although I wouldn't really add to much of anything at this point aside from a few things that I intend on holding for years.)

    Edited to add: I think the other thing to consider would be what is the manager saying - I haven't read the letters, but does the manager have a long-term view, what's the reasoning, etc? I've held funds that may have been underperforming in the short-to-mid term if they have a very defined vision as to themes, predictions and have displayed an understanding that the bet is currently not working and why.

    Long story short, I'll hold an underperforming fund if they display an understanding of the reasons why, display some flexibility and a vision as to how their current bets/themes may pay off. If a fund is underperforming and a manager's like, "We're very happy, everything's great" or "well, it's a bad quarter.', then I'll consider ditching the fund.
  • kevindowkevindow
    edited August 2014
    Hi Paul,

    Mr. Marcus managed or co-managed Mutual Series funds for less than 2 years, so I doubt that he earned any "pedigree" during such a brief period. And if you look at the record of MEURX, the only fund he managed by himself, it trailed the category average until the last month of his tenure. So like many new funds, I usually recommend that folks watch until some track record develops and refrain from being an early buyer.

    In the World Stock space, my short list of funds to consider would be DODWX, PGVFX, OAKWX and THOIX (per test trade, THOIX is apparently available in Fidelity retirement accounts for a $500 minimum with a $49.95 initial transaction fee).

    Kevin
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