Investment Product and Service Launches

Art by Jackson Epstein

IM Releases Institutional Portfolio Data Tool

Investment Metrics (IM) has launched Fee Analyzer. The tool provides post-negotiated fee data sourced and aggregated from live institutional portfolios housed on the IM performance reporting platform, used by leading institutional asset allocators.

“Increasingly, institutional asset owners are scrutinizing net of fees performance, and asset managers must be competitive with fees to win new mandates, validating the need for a robust fee benchmarking tool. Fee Analyzer is the first solution that drives competitive insights by bringing together a broad and reliable data source of actual fees in an online, interactive environment,” says Sanjoy Chatterjee, chief strategy officer of Investment Metrics.

With Fee Analyzer users can create custom fee universes across asset class hierarchies, compare multiple asset classes by investment vehicle, and view fee distribution across many dimensions including mandate size, plan type, and plan size. Additionally, the solution allows users to compare and correlate fees with actual performance and various modern portfolio theory statistics.

Vantagepoint Implements Private Alternative Assets

Vantagepoint has added private alternative assets in its target-date and target-risk funds.

“We are taking the first steps to provide access to a diversified portfolio of private alternatives for people who otherwise would not be able to benefit from these investments. We’re doing it in a daily valued fund, so we’re not restricting liquidity,” says Wayne Wicker, CIO of Vantagepoint Investment Advisers, LLC. “It will be a multi-year process to build our target exposure.  We believe that adding alternatives to our target-date and target-risk funds will offer significant value over the long term, because alternative assets like private equity and real estate have different characteristics than traditional assets.  By including them in our funds, over time we can potentially help increase risk-adjusted returns and aid participants’ efforts to enhance their retirement security,” he adds.

Alternatives often have different properties than traditional stocks and bonds, enhancing portfolio diversification and potentially improving risk-adjusted returns. As the allocation to diversified alternatives in Vantagepoint’s Milestone Funds and Model Portfolio Funds are built over a multi-year implementation schedule, investors will be able to take advantage of the potential benefits of private alternative asset classes, such as illiquidity premiums and an expanded investment opportunity set. 

Vantagepoint’s approach to introducing the asset class to its target-date and target-risk funds will occur over several years. The firm expects that private alternative investments will comprise less than 5% of the total assets of any single target-date or target-risk fund.

Avantis Selects State Street as ETF Service Provider

State Street Corporation has been appointed by Avantis Investors, a new unit within American Century Investments, to provide exchange-traded fund (ETF) services for its five newly launched low-cost funds. Services will include basket creation, custody, accounting, transfer agency and fund administration. 

Avantis Investors offers active investment strategies for investors in mutual fund and ETF formats. The five funds, launched in late September on NYSE Arca, are: Avantis U.S. Equity ETF (AVUS); Avantis International Equity ETF (AVDE); Avantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM); Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF (AVUV); and Avantis International Small Cap Value ETF (AVDV).

“Our agreement with Avantis Investors underscores the scale and expertise of our ETF team and the power of our ETF servicing technology,” says Frank Koudelka, senior vice president and global ETF product specialist at State Street. “Our top priority is to provide strategic advice and partnership to our clients and we couldn’t be more excited to work with Avantis on their suite of low-cost ETFs.” 

“Our goal is to provide investors with active, transparent ETFs that are low cost and can help an individual meet their financial goals,” says Eduardo Repetto, chief investment officer of Avantis Investors. 

Crow Point Partners and Midwood Capital to Launch Open-End Fund 

Crow Point Partners, LLC and Midwood Capital Management LLC have announced a pending launch of the Midwood Long/Short Equity Fund, a new open-end fund on the 360 Funds Trust.

The new fund is a conversion of an existing limited partnership, will retain its focus on small cap stocks, and is expected to launch on December 31. Crow Point will serve as adviser and Midwood will serve as sub-adviser with primary portfolio management responsibilities. M3Sixty Administration, LLC will be handling administration of the new fund with its affiliate, M360 Distributors, LLC, performing distribution. 

“We are very happy to partner with Crow Point and now be part of Crow Point’s public alternative fund line-up,” says David E. Cohen, Midwood’s founder and CIO. “They are an experienced alternatives adviser and they have built out a high quality and robust fund infrastructure that allows us to focus on our core competency, which is investment management.”

Peter DeCaprio, Crow Point’s CEO says, “We are delighted to help Midwood convert their L.P. into a public fund, our fifth public alternatives fund. Midwood has produced a very enviable multi-decade track record with the predecessor L.P. strategy. David is also no stranger to the public fund marketplace, having previously been a manager on the five-star Balter Long/Short Small Cap Equity Fund.”

The Midwood Long/Short Fund, which will have an institutional and investor share class, will have a total expense cap of 2.25% on the institutional share class. The fund will be available on most major platforms.