Baird Funds has launched the Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund (BSNIX/BSNSX) and the Baird Municipal Bond Fund (BMQIX/BMQSX).
These are the first new bond funds introduced by the Baird Advisors team since launching Baird Short-Term Municipal Bond Fund (BTMIX/BTMSX) and Baird Core Intermediate Municipal Bond Fund (BMNIX/BMNSX) in 2015. Both funds will be co-managed by Lyle Fitterer, CFA, Duane McAllister, CFA, Erik Schleicher, CFA, and Joseph Czechowicz, CFA.
“In addition to adding breadth to our municipal bond investment team, we are expanding our lineup in a way that is complementary to our existing funds and will provide additional choices for municipal investors,” says Mary Ellen Stanek, CFA, President of the Baird Funds and Chief Investment Officer of Baird Advisors. “These Funds will be led by deeply experienced managers while maintaining our high-quality approach.”
Baird Advisors expanded its team in August with the addition of Lyle Fitterer, a nationally-recognised investment professional and experienced municipal bond manager. Prior to Baird, Fitterer spent 30 years with Wells Fargo, most recently he oversaw all municipal strategies and was Co-Head of Global Fixed Income.
Both funds seek a high level of current income that is exempt from federal income tax consistent with the preservation of capital. The Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund will maintain an average effective maturity between 3 months and 6 years. The Baird Municipal Bond Fund’s average effective maturity will be between 5 and 12 years. Each fund will have the ability to invest in below investment grade securities–Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund can invest up to 30 per cent and Baird Municipal Bond Fund up to 15 per cent. Both funds will invest at least 80 per cent in securities exempt from federal tax and may invest up to 20 per cent of net assets in municipal securities from which the interest is a tax preference item for the purposes of federal AMT. The investment minimum is USD25,000 for the institutional classes and USD2,500 for the investor classes of each fund. Both funds will be priced at .30 percent management fee for the institutional class and .55 for the investor class.
“There is significant interest in the municipal market and these funds allow us to better serve our investors by rounding out our suite of municipal funds,” says Duane McAllister, CFA, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager. Lyle Fitterer has experience managing similar strategies and we look forward to serving more investors with these approaches.”
