15
Morningstar FundInvestor
November
2013
been a decent performer in the two and a half years
since hiring its current managers, but that’s a very
short record. The long term has been less glorious.
Vanguard U.S. Growth’s
15
-year investor return is
negative
2
.
8%
annualized.
Finally, Vanguard will merge two of its managed-
payout funds,
Vanguard Managed Payout Distri-
bution Focus
VPDFX
and
Vanguard Managed
Payout Growth Focus
VPGFX
, into a third (and then
only) managed-payout option, which will be renamed
Vanguard Managed Payout Fund
. At the same
time, Vanguard will lower that fund’s targeted distri-
bution level to
4%
from
5%
.
Vanguard is also paring back some purchase and re-
demption fees at three index funds.
Vanguard
FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index
VFSVX
charges
0
.
50%
when you buy and another
0
.
50%
when you sell. That’s coming down to
0
.
25%
coming
and going.
Vanguard Short-Term Corporate
Bond Index
VSCSX
will drop its
0
.
25%
purchase fee
so that there’s no fee on either end.
Vanguard
Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond Index
’s
VICSX
purchase fee will be cut to
0
.
25%
from
0
.
50%
. It
has no redemption fee.
It’s rare for Vanguard to merge away funds. In the
1990
s the firm decided its tech fund was too risky,
and it merged it away. In the
2000
s it merged its
Florida muni fund away when the Florida intangibles
tax was eliminated.
Vanguard is also lowering the minimum for a slew of
Admiral shares for institutions and advisors.
Matthews Pacific Tiger Closes
Gold-rated
Matthews Pacific Tiger
MAPTX
closed
to new investors on Oct.
25
. The $
7
.
6
billion Asia
fund has been a standout under Richard Gao and
Sharat Shroff. They ply a value-conscious approach to
growth investing that has worked quite well over
time. The fund invests in just about every market in
Asia except for Japan, so besides big names like
South Korea and China, investors get exposure to the
likes of Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Oakmark International Closes
Oakmark International
OAKIX
closed on Oct.
4
.
It’s an excellent Gold-rated fund, but it has doubled in
assets in just a year, so this is an important step.
Fidelity Files for 2 Event-Driven Funds
Fidelity recently submitted paperwork with the
SEC
seeking permission to create two long-only, event-
driven funds.
The proposed funds,
Fidelity Event Driven Oppor-
tunities
and
Fidelity Advisor Event Driven Oppor-
tunities
, would invest in stocks in a special-situation
event, such as firms undergoing a corporate reorgani-
zation, a change in beneficial ownership, changes to
their capital structure, or a management change.
Fidelity’s Arvind Navaratnam, who does not manage
any other mutual funds, would be the proposed funds’
portfolio manager. The funds are expected to launch
around Dec.
11
.
PIMCO Hires Schroders Veteran
PIMCO
announced it has hired Schroders
PLC
manager
Virginie Maisonneuve to head its global equities
group. Maisonneuve is best known to U.S. investors
as one of the managers of
Vanguard International
Growth
VWILX
.
The hire fills a void left by Neel Kashkari, who had
been the first in the position. The choice of Maison-
neuve signals
PIMCO
is taking a more traditional
route this time. See Fund Manager Changes for more
on the impact to Vanguard International Growth.
Value Managers Snap Up Apple Shares
Once purely the domain of aggressive-growth man-
agers,
Apple
AAPL
is now being purchased by
value managers. The addition of a dividend and a
relatively modest P/E no doubt boosted its appeal.
Vanguard Wellington
VWELX
and
T. Rowe Price
Equity Income
PRFDX
were among the top buyers
in the second quarter. Wellington bought
334
,
000
shares and T. Rowe Price Equity Income bought
100
,
000
in the second quarter.
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