Vanguard Releases Actively Managed Equity Fund

The four firms involved are M&G Investment Management Limited; Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.; Pzena Investment Management, LLC; and Wellington Management Company, LLP, Vanguard announced. The firms’ teams have decades of combined experience in emerging markets equity management, with differentiated but complementary investment approaches.  

The fund is now accepting investments during a two-week subscription period that is expected to conclude at the end of business on June 27, 2011. Following the subscription period, fund assets will be allocated equally among the four investment advisers.  

The release stated that the fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in equity securities of small-, mid-, and large-capitalization companies located in emerging markets. It will have an estimated expense ratio of 0.95%, 40% lower than the average expense ratio (1.68%) of other emerging markets funds. 

The fund will be available to individual retail investors who invest directly with Vanguard and will require a $3,000 minimum initial investment, the release claimed. Vanguard will assess a 2% redemption fee on shares held less than 60 days in an effort to deter short-term trading; the fee, which is not a load, will be paid directly back to the fund to offset transaction costs.