Victory Capital Management, through its RS Investments team, is to serve as a manager of the USD4.1 billion Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund.
As of 5 December, the firm will manage the 50 per cent of the fund previously managed by Chartwell Investment Partners.
Victory’s RS Investments is located in San Francisco, California. RS Investments employs a team-based approach and utilises a fundamental, bottom-up stock research and selection process. The team’s investment strategy is rooted in deep fundamental analysis to identify the drivers of sustainable, long-term growth.
Scott Tracy, chief investment officer of the eight-person RS Investments growth team, will serve as co-portfolio manager along with Steve Bishop, Melissa Chadwick-Dunn, and Chris Clark.
Victory, through RS Investments, is the newest addition to Vanguard’s roster of now 30 external investment advisory firms. Along with mandates overseen by Vanguard’s internal fixed income group and quantitative equity group, Vanguard now manages more than USD1 trillion in active fund assets.
“Vanguard has a meaningful legacy in the world of active management, stretching back to the 1929 launch of the Wellington Fund,” says Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb. “We seek to select and retain the industry’s leading investment firms and we welcome the addition of Victory’s RS Investments team as a complement to our deep and broad roster of active managers.”
Additionally, modifications have been made to the USD11.4 billion Vanguard Explorer Fund. The majority of the portfolio formerly managed by Chartwell (7 per cent) will be apportioned to Arrowpoint Asset Management and Stephens Investment Management Group, two existing advisers of the fund.
Following the transition, the new manager allocation of the fund is expected to be as follows: Wellington Management Company, 34 per cent; Arrowpoint, 15 per cent; Granahan Investment Management, 13 per cent; Kalmar Investment Advisers, 13 per cent; Stephens, 12 per cent; and Quantitative Equity Group, 11 per cent; with the remaining 2 per cent in cash.
The investment objectives and principal investment strategies of the Mid-Cap Growth and Explorer Funds will remain the same, and the expense ratios of the funds are not expected to be affected by the changes.
