Eagle Asset Management Begins Distributing CITs

Eagle Asset Management has initiated distribution of collective investment trusts (CITs).

Through its affiliate, San Diego, California-based ClariVest Asset Management LLC, Eagle joins a number of defined contribution investment only (DCIO) fund distributors in the fast-growing CIT market. “If you are going to look for a lower-cost vehicle, collective trust funds make a lot of sense,” says Ran Gimeno, senior vice president and head of DCIO Sales at Eagle. 

The firm is offering active strategies in a daily-valued investment vehicle, seeking to attract large plan sponsors as well as consultants and financial advisers that cater to the DC market. The new funds sponsored by Hand Benefits & Trust Company, a BPAS company, include the following strategies: Small Cap Value; Emerging Markets Equity; and International Equity.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Eagle notes that historically, collective funds have been heavily used within fixed income products including stable value; however, today more than 70% of total dollar volume in collective funds come from non-stable value products.

The use of these investment vehicles is rising among DC plans, largely because of regulatory changes that favor lower-cost investments in retirement plan menus (see “Time to Consider a Collective Trust?”). “The industry expects CITs to play an increasingly important role in the DC market as large plan sponsors have a fiduciary obligation to explore their investment options,” says Gimeno.

St. Petersburg, Florida-based Eagle Asset Management, Inc. provides institutional and individual investors with an array of equity and fixed income products through autonomous investment teams located around the country, and acts as a provider of client service and sales distribution on behalf of ClariVest. Eagle has more than $31.5 billion in assets under advisement as of March 31, 2014.

More information is at http://eagleasset.com/.

«