(PUB) Investing 2015

14

Fund News

Fund Manager Changes

Calamos Growth CVGRX Impact: Negative Date: 09/01/2015 Co-CIO Gary Black left Calamos three years after joining the firm. The situation is similar to that of Janus, where Black arrived to fix a problem firm but left after a few years as both sides were ready to move on. Black was one of five comanagers listed on the fund. Calamos added Michael Roesler to replace Black as the fifth manager. Our Take: It isn’t pretty. Performance was mediocre over Black’s tenure, and his departure leaves a void in upper management. Date: 03/14/2016 Chuck Myers will take a six-month leave of absence. Derek Jansen will fill in while he is gone. Jansen runs Fidelity Small Cap Value FCPVX, where he worked with Myers before replacing him there. Our Take: For a low-turnover fund, we don’t see much risk in Myers taking six months off. We will watch closely, though, to be sure he comes back on time. Usually managers come back after leaves of absence and pick up right where they left off, but occasionally they decide not to come back. Impact: Negative Date: 03/31/2016 Gibson Smith is leaving Janus. Comanager Darrell Waters will take over as lead manager. Our Take: We have placed the funds under review as this is a big blow to two appealing funds. Smith built up Janus’ bond effort over the past 12 years and was vital to the team. Impact: Negative Date: 09/30/2016 Lead manager Jerry Senser will retire at the end of September 2016. The firm named Tom Cole co-chief investment officer and said Matthew Swanson will step down to focus on U.S. strategies. Our Take: Senser has led ICAP since Rob Lyons’ death in 2007. We’ve lowered our rating to ˇ from ´ . Impact: Negative Date: 09/09/2015 Comanager In-Bok Song left to work as an analyst at Thornburg. This follows Richard Gao’s departure in July 2015. Our Take: Although Song was not the lead, her departure along with Gao’s led us to lower the fund’s rating to • . As the rating implies, we still think the fund is in good hands. Sharat Shroff has experience and a track record at Matthews that inspires confidence. The fund recently reopened because of outflows seen at most Asia funds. Impact: Negative Date: 06/01/2016 Lead manager Karl Bandtel of Wellington Management will retire. Vanguard named Greg LeBlanc, also of Wellington, comanager of the fund and said he will become the lead manager when Bandtel retires. Our Take: Bandtel has a strong track record, so he will be missed. The fund is Under Review. Impact: Negative Date: 01/01/2016 Longtime lead manager James Barrow will retire. Comanagers Jeff Fahrenbruch and David Ganucheau will replace him. The two have been comanagers since 2013, and eight years ago Vanguard had said they would eventually succeed Barrow. Barrow will continue to manage Vanguard Selected Value VASVX. Our Take : We knew Barrow would retire in the relatively near future, so this is not a surprise. Still, Barrow’s outstanding record makes this a real loss. His replacements are seasoned but do not have long track records of their own. We have lowered our rating to ´ from • . Date: 02/01/2016 Jeff Cardon will step down as lead portfolio manager of this fund and CEO of Wasatch Advisors. He will remain a comanager on the fund. J.B. Taylor will take over Cardon’s role as both CEO and lead manager on the fund at that time. Our Take: This looks like a gradual evolution. We are maintaining our Œ rating but will watch closely to see how involved Cardon is. On the plus side, Taylor has a strong record, too. Fidelity Small Cap Discovery FSCRX Impact: Neutral Janus High-Yield JAHYX and Janus Flexible Bond JAFIX MainStay ICAP International ICEUX Matthews Pacific Tiger MAPTX Vanguard Energy VGENX Vanguard Windsor II VWNFX Wasatch Small Cap Growth WAAEX Impact: Neutral

Columbia Cuts the Cord With Marsico Columbia funds ended its relationship with Marsico Capital Management in November. It replaced Marsico with in-house managers at Columbia Marsico 21st Century NMTAX , Columbia Marsico Growth NMGIX , Columbia Marsico Flexible Capital CCMAX , and Columbia Marsico Focused Equities NFEAX . The Marsico name was removed from the fund names as well. Columbia Marsico Growth is now Columbia Large Cap Growth V , and it is run by John Wilson, Pete Deininger, and Tchintcia Barros, who run Columbia Large Cap Growth LEGAX . We have place the fund’s Morningstar Analyst Rating under review. The former Columbia Marsico fund will merge into Columbia Large Cap Growth in the second quarter of 2016 . The former Columbia Marsico Focused Equities is also slated to merge into Columbia Large Cap Growth. It’s the final chapter in a very disappointing story for Marsico, which was sold twice near the peak in equities. The firm was sold with great fanfare to Columbia parent Bank of America in 2000 for $1 . 1 billion. The firm’s assets under management grew sixfold over the ensuing years, and Tom Marsico and other investment professionals bought the firm back from Bank of America in 2007 . The firm borrowed heavily to do so, and it has felt the weight of that debt ever since. Since that buyout, the firm’s funds have been consistent laggards and assets under management have fallen sharply even before Columbia fired them. Marsico has also seen some key managers and analysts leave. The combination of departures and performance slumps had led us to give Neutral ratings to Marsico Growth MGRIX and Marsico Focus MFOCX and drop the other funds from coverage. We will update our ratings shortly.