Forward Management Rebrands Accessor Funds

The rebranding of Accessor Funds comes after the June 2008 announcement of the Forward agreement to acquire Seattle-based Accessor Funds (see “Forward Management Picks Up Investment Adviser”). The Accessor Funds expanded Forward’s fund offerings in asset allocation strategies, as well as in alternatives strategies with the Strategic Alternatives Fund and Frontier Markets Fund, which was launched after the acquisition.

Because Accessor was one of the providers of investment strategies to bank trust departments, the acquisition has opened that distribution channel to all Forward Funds.

In addition, the Accessor acquisition, combined with the acquisition in August of 2008 of the San Francisco-based retail division of Berkeley Capital Management, LLC, established internal asset management capabilities at Forward and further expanded its separately managed accounts operation, the company said.

The Accessor rebranding completes the transition associated with Forward’s merger and acquisition activity begun in 2008, resulting in an expanded family of 32 funds unified under the Forward name, and accounting for more than $5.6 billion in assets under management. Forward said the main goal of its acquisitions was supplementing its core plus satellite fund lineup with alternative strategies, and it now includes seven actively managed alternative strategy funds designed for both retail and institutional investors.