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Mutual fund companies in Seattle & Silicon Valley

Which are the most successful mutual funds located in Seattle & Silicon Valley, where so many top companies began and stay? Fund companies there have quicker and easier insight than those on Wall Street.

Thanks.

Comments

  • @noeld: Rainier Funds home base is Seattle, SA Funds located in San Jose, and San Francisco, close to Silicon Valley, is home to Dodge & Cox Funds, RS Funds, and Parnassus.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • @Ted- Isn't Matthews here in SF also?
  • @Old_Joe: I've trained you well, Matthews is location in the Embarcadero Center in Rice- -A- Roni City.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • There used to be something called Fremont Funds out of CA. However for the life of me I can't find them anymore.

    And isn't PIMCO in CA?
  • Doubleline is in LA.
  • I'd almost forgotten about Fremont funds - as Ted's link reminds us, Fremont Bond Fund (FBDFX) was one of the two cheaper ways to get access to Bill Gross (the other being Harbor Bond Fund HABDX).

    What the links don't tell us is that Fremont Investment Advisors Inc. (formerly at 90 New Montgomery St, SF) was caught with its hand in the cookie jar, engaged in market timing and late trades, in 2004.

    A class action suit was filed in March 2004, just months before Fremont sold its funds to Managers. Hmm.
  • Osterweis is based in San Franciso. Litman Masters funds are based in Orinda, CA (north of Oakland).
  • Meridian Funds are located in Larkspur CA if I remember correctly.
  • edited July 2015
    Safeco was located in Seattle and they had some funds. I think they were bought out by Liberty Mutual some years ago.

    Also the Benham Group was located in San Francisco. A well respected bond group, I bought in their GNMA fund way back when. They were absorbed by Twentieth Century now American Century.

    I had the great fortune to speak with Jim Benham on the phone once. I had a simple question and as a small investor I was shocked to be speaking to the head. I have never forgotten the five minutes he took to answer my question.
  • Franklin Templeton's headquarters are in San Mateo, a mile or two away from Oracle's headquarters in the bay area.
  • @JohnChisum- yes, that's how we got into American Century also- via Benham. A good outfit.
  • Safeco (property and casualty) was bought out by Liberty Mutual in 2008, but the life insurance and investment (mutual fund) business was sold off in 2004; the life insurance became Symetra and the funds were immediately acquired by Pioneer.

    Benham was in Mountain View. Along with SA Funds, perhaps the only family named so far that really was within Silicon Valley. (Benham/AC maintains the same location there as it had when it was a separate company: https://www.americancentury.com/content/americancentury/corporate/en/careers/why-work-here/our-communities.html)
  • Thanks for the clarification @msf. The reason I remembered Safeco was that they had the naming rights for the Seattle baseball stadium. They still do but there was a moment that people thought the name would change.

    Yes, American Century uses the old Benham HQ. Sometimes when I call I get a rep from Mountain View. I called it SF out of convenience.
  • edited July 2015

    Doubleline is in LA.

    Oaktree still owns a considerable % of Doubleline. Will be interesting if Doubleline ever goes public.

    As for the topic, I'm not sure location of a fund company results in added insights but that's just me.
  • Generally I agree with you, but there are arguably rare exceptions. Mairs and Power Growth (MPGFX) being the usual example given here.

    Benham California bond funds seemed to be competitive with Vanguard's despite their somewhat higher cost, which could be attributed to their California location. And they are the only noload family with a California junk bond fund - BCHYX. Franklin Templeton also in Calif. has a good Calif junk bond fund. (The only other decent entry in this narrow field is Nuveen.)

    Franklin's California Growth Fund also seemed to do well when Franklin stuck to its knitting. M*'s take is: "When this fund [FKCGX] was known as the Franklin California Growth fund, it had to keep [80% of its assets in securities of California companies]. After amassing an impressive record [it dropped its California focus]. The fund hasn't stood out as a coast-to-coast portfolio."

    Regarding Franklin's (and Oracle's) location - still a bit north of Silicon Valley. With Oracle, AFAIK that was deliberate. It used to be located in Belmont (fantastic view of the Bay) when it was small. There was a tug of war between those coming up from Silicon Valley and those living in San Francisco, so Oracle wound up moving "laterally". The talk at the time was that they built their new headquarters over Shamu's tank (Marine World used to be there).
  • As for the topic, I'm not sure location of a fund company results in added insights but that's just me.
    In today's digital age where information and connectivity are readily available, the company location is less important comparing to the past. Easy access to airports is still important for mangers who require frequent on-ground company visits.
  • SMVLX, Smead Value Investor, in Seattle, WA.
    Oceanstone fund in bayarea before it was closed when portfolio manager passed away.
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