NEWS SCAN
Underwriters Snap Up More ING Shares
ING U.S. announced last week that the underwriters in its initial public offering have exercised their overallotment option to purchase approximately 9.8 million additional shares of ING U.S. from ING Group at the IPO price of $19.50 per share.
ING U.S. shares started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 2. The gross proceeds from the exercise will go to ING Group and will reduce ING Group's ownership in ING U.S. to approximately 71%.
Iowa Man Gets 37 Years for Mailing Bombs to Mutual Funds
An Iowa man was sentenced to 37 years in the clink for mailing bombs and threatening letters to mutual fund managers at Janus Capital Group and American Century Cos. in a bid to influence stock prices.
John Tomkins, 48, of Dubuque, who was convicted last May of 12 counts including possession of an unregistered explosive device, was sentenced two weeks ago in federal court in Chicago by U.S. District Judge Robert Dow.
Vanguard's Tax-Managed Fund Swaps Index
Vanguard has swapped indexes for a $15.7 billion fund. The Vanguard Tax-Managed International Fund last week traded the MSCI EAFE Index for the FTSE Developed ex North America Index.
With the transition, the name of the fund's ETF Shares will change from Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF to Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF. The ETF's ticker symbol (VEA) will remain the same.
Touchstone's Real Estate Fund Changes Sub-advisor, Again
The Board of Trustees of Touchstone Funds Group Trust has decided to appoint Forum Securities Limited as sub-advisor to the Touchstone Global Real Estate Fund (TGACX), replacing current interim sub-advisor Russell Implementation Services, a subsidiary of Russell Investments, effective May 24.
Touchstone initially hired Russell as a temporary replacement for Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers in March.
Franklin Closes Frontier Markets Fund
Franklin Templeton Investments is closing its Frontier Markets Fund to new investors on June 28.
The $1.15 billion fund, which launched in October 2008, bets on securities of companies located in "frontier market countries" such as the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. Allan Lam and Tom Wu are the portfolio managers of the fund.
PRODUCTS
Grandeur Peak Reaches for New Small-Cap Fund
Grandeur Peak Global Advisors is adding a new fund to its portfolio. The Salt Lake City firm will add the Grandeur Peak Global Reach Fund (GPROX/GPRIX) to its mix on June 19 to bet on international small-cap companies.
The fund will contain 300-500 securities globally and become the umbrella portfolio for all of our other small/micro cap funds, according to Robert Gardiner, chief executive officer and portfolio manager. It will have a similar investment focus to the Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund, which is more concentrated and closed to new investors on May 1.
VTL Preps Two ETFs
Fresh off of its announced partnership with a Chinese venture capital shop, Philadelphia-based VTL Associates is looking to add two exchange-traded funds to its roster: RevenueShares Emerging Market Fund and RevenueShares Ultra Dividend Fund.
The RevenueShares Emerging Market Fund is benchmarked to the performance of the BNY Mellon Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index and the RevenueShares Ultra Dividend Fund will be benchmarked against the S&P 900 Index, which combines the S&P 500 Index and S&P MidCap 400 Index to form an investable benchmark for the large-mid cap universe of the U.S. equity market.
Turner Preps EM Fund
Berwyn, Pa.-based Turner Investments is looking to add emerging market exposure to its portfolio via the Turner Emerging Markets Fund.
The firm is prepping the fund to launch the fund within the next few months and will be available in Institutional Class Shares and Investor Class Shares for 105 basis points and 130 bps., respectively. The fund will be benchmarked to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which has exposure to Brazil, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
RESEARCH
Cerulli: Advisors to Ramp Up ETF Allocations
Advisors are expected to up the exchange-traded fund allocations in their clients' portfolios in 2013, according to Cerulli Associates' Exchange-Traded Fund Markets 2013 report. The average allocation is expected to rise from 7.1% in 2011 to 7.8% in 2013.
Alec Papazian, associate director in Cerulli's asset management practice said: "This is notable because growth has been stagnant in previous years."
Inflows Continue Into Mutual Funds
Mutual funds attracted estimated inflows of $7.97 billion for the week ended Wednesday, May 22, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.
Equity funds had estimated inflows of $2.46 billion for the week, compared to estimated inflows of $2.42 billion in the previous week.
Hybrid funds had estimated inflows of $1.39 billion for the week, compared to estimated inflows of $1.60 billion in the previous week.
Bond funds had estimated inflows of $4.13 billion, compared to estimated inflows of $4.52 billion during the previous week.
ARRIVALS
Robeco Names Institutional Sales Chief
Robeco Investment Management has named Kerry James as head of institutional distribution, effective June 1. She will be based in Boston and be responsible for institutional sales, consultant relations, relationship management and marketing services.
James will be assuming the responsibilities of Paul Healey, who has announced that he is retiring at the end of June. She is a managing director of the U.S.-based organization, which is a subsidiary of Rotterdam-based Robeco Group. She joined Robeco Investment Management in 2007 and was named head of International Distribution in 2009.
Ex-Janus Managers Join Former Colleagues at Hedge Fund
Brian Schaub and Chad Meade, fund managers who quit Janus Capital Group this month, have joined Arrowpoint Partners, a Denver-based hedge fund co-founded by their former colleague David Corkins.
Schaub and Meade managed two of Janus's best-performing equity funds, the $4.9 billion Triton Fund and the $2.3 billion Venture Fund, until the firm, also based in Denver, announced their departure May 13.
Arrow Lands Ex-Direxion Sales Chief
Arrow Funds has hired an ex-Direxion Funds exec as its new national sales director. John Cadigan joins the firm in the title role. Cadigan was previously managing director and national sales manager for Direxion.
He also spent time at Rydex Investments where he helped to establish the firm as an early entrant in the alternative investment mutual funds space.
Cadigan will focus on advisor relationships at Arrow Funds.
