Chatham, NY-based Aviemore Asset Management is prepping a merger of its ETF Market Opportunity Fund, a fund of funds, into a new separate series of the Stadion Investment Trust.
After a strategic review of the management and operations of the Aviemore Fund Aviemore’s president Paul Frank has called a special meeting of the shareholders of ETF Market Opportunity Fund to be held on March 28 to vote on Aviemore Funds reorganization into the Stadion Investment Trust, according to a regulatory filing. Aviemore's Board of Trustees has already given its blessings for the reorg.
After the reorg, the assets of the ETF Fund will be transferred to the new fund, dubbed the Stadion ETF Market Opportunity Fund in exchange for Class I shares of the new fund, which will then be distributed pro rata to the Aviemore Fund’s shareholders. Stadion will serve as investment adviser to the Stadion ETF Market Opportunity Fund, and Frank, the portfolio manager for the Aviemore Fund since its inception in 2004, will continue to serve as a portfolio manager for the fund as an employee of Stadion.
Frank was not immediately available to comment on the reorg. The ETF Market Opportunity Fund was launched in May 2004 and managed some $23 million in assets as of February 22. Its top three holdings include: the Vanguard Growth ETF, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology I fund.
Jud Doherty, president at Stadion, told Money Management Executive that the ETF Market Opportunity Fund is complementary to the firm’s portfolio in that it's ETF-based and uses trend-following in a defensive way. “From our standpoint, if you’re a financial advisor, I think it’s a good story because everyone agrees equities are a good way to accumulate wealth but you need a defensive strategy to protect you during tough times," said Doherty.
Doherty also mentioned that Stadion is currently engaged in “causal conversations” with other managers who embody its conservative, non-traditional, tactical ETF-based, team-based, rules-based risk management approach.
