ORINDA, Calif.--()--Effective January 15, 2013, Litman Gregory Masters Funds has hired two new sub-advisors to the Litman Gregory Masters International Fund. Lazard Asset Management LLC and Wellington Management Company, LLP join the fund’s five current sub-advisors. Each sub‐advisor runs a concentrated portfolio consisting of their highest-conviction holdings.
“We believe that in Berteaux we are getting a great stock picker, a flexible thinker that can adapt to changing macro conditions while staying within his area of competency, and access to Wellington’s broad, well-researched non-U.S. investment opportunity set”
Mark Little will be the portfolio manager from Lazard, and Jean-Marc Berteaux will be the portfolio manager from Wellington. Litman Gregory believes these sub-advisors are an excellent fit for the Litman Gregory Masters Funds concept, and have the ability to generate superior performance over the long term while providing valuable diversification benefits relative to the fund’s current sub-advisors. Each manager will represent 14% to 15% of the fund’s assets, a weighting equal to that managed by each of the fund’s five other sub-advisors. Read the Q&A about these additions.
Jean-Marc Berteaux
Berteaux is a Senior Vice President and Equity Portfolio Manager at Wellington Management and has been an investment professional at Wellington Management since 2001. He invests in non-U.S. companies across the capital spectrum where his longer-term earnings growth expectations are significantly above consensus estimates.
“We believe that in Berteaux we are getting a great stock picker, a flexible thinker that can adapt to changing macro conditions while staying within his area of competency, and access to Wellington’s broad, well-researched non-U.S. investment opportunity set,” said Litman Gregory Senior Research Analyst Rajat Jain, who works with the fund’s co-managers, Ken Gregory and Jeremy DeGroot.
Read about our due diligence on Jean-Marc Berteaux.
Mark Little
Mark Little is the lead portfolio manager responsible for managing the segment of the International Fund’s assets allocated to Lazard Asset Management. Little is a Managing Director, Portfolio Manager/Analyst on the International Strategic Equity portfolio-management team at Lazard. He has been a portfolio manager of the Lazard International Strategic Equity Portfolio since that fund’s inception in October 2005.
“We have been doing due diligence on Little since 2006 and we have invested in his mutual fund portfolio for our private clients for several years. We believe that through Little we are accessing the highest-conviction international ideas from a well-resourced, high-quality research platform at Lazard,” Jain said.
Read about our due diligence on Mark Little.
Litman Gregory Masters International Fund Sub-Advisors:
- David Herro of Harris Associates
- Mark Little of Lazard Asset Management
- Jim Gendelman of Marsico Capital Management
- Howard Appleby, Jean-Francois Ducrest, Jim LaTorre, and Edward E. Wendell, Jr. of Northern Cross
- Amit Wadhwaney of Third Avenue Management
- Bill Fries and Vinson Walden of Thornburg Investment Management
- Jean-Marc Berteaux of Wellington Management Company
Read About Their Investment Philosophies.
About the Litman Gregory Masters Funds
The Litman Gregory Masters Funds include five equity funds and one Alternative Strategies Fund. Each fund is run by multiple sub‐advisors selected by Litman Gregory who seeks to hire managers it believes to be exceptionally skilled. Each equity sub‐advisor runs a concentrated portfolio consisting of their highest-conviction holdings. The goal is to benefit from the stock-picking skills of exceptional stock pickers, focusing on their highest‐conviction ideas while gaining overall fund‐level diversification by including multiple sub‐advisors, each using a distinct stock‐picking approach, on each fund. The Alternative Strategies Fund combines four different alternative oriented investment strategies and sub‐advisors to run the overall fund portfolio. Unlike the equity funds, this fund’s individual sub‐advisor sleeves are not run as concentrated portfolios.
About Litman Gregory
Litman Gregory Fund Advisors, LLC is the advisor to the Litman Gregory Masters Funds and as such is responsible for sub‐advisor due diligence and selection, day‐to‐day coordination with the sub‐advisors, monitoring the individual performance and capabilities of the investment managers, and fund administration. Since 1987 the Litman Gregory team has researched, analyzed, and written about hundreds of stock‐picking teams and mutual funds, and put their ideas to the test by designing and investing in portfolios of funds. Drawing on insights gained from years of evaluating and analyzing mutual funds, Litman Gregory is distinctly qualified to oversee the funds’ operations. Litman Gregory Fund Advisors is an affiliate of three other separate but related Litman Gregory companies, all based on the core expertise of investment‐manager and asset‐class research and selection: Litman Gregory Asset Management, LLC, which has provided investment management services to individuals, family groups, foundations, and endowments since 1987; Litman Gregory AdvisorIntelligence, a web‐based investment research service for financial advisors; and Litman Gregory Portfolio Strategies.
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Diversification does not assure a profit nor protect against loss in a declining market.
The funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The summary and statutory prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company, and may be obtained by calling 1‐800‐960‐0188, or visiting www.mastersfunds.com. Read them carefully before investing.
Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. Each of the funds may invest in foreign securities. Investing in foreign securities exposes investors to economic, political, and market risks and fluctuations in foreign currencies. Each of the funds may invest in the securities of small companies.
Small‐company investing subjects investors to additional risks, including security price volatility and less liquidity than investing in larger companies.
The International Fund will invest in emerging markets. Investments in emerging market countries involve additional risks such as government dependence on a few industries or resources, government‐imposed taxes on foreign investment or limits on the removal of capital from a country, unstable government, and volatile markets.
Some funds are non-diversified funds, which means that each respective fund may concentrate more of its assets in fewer individual holdings than a diversified fund. Therefore, the fund is more exposed to individual stock volatility than a diversified fund. Funds may invest portions of assets in securities of distressed companies.
The Alternative Strategies fund will invest in debt securities and derivatives. Investments in debt securities typically decrease when interest rates rise. This risk is usually greater for longer‐term debt securities. Investments in mortgage‐backed securities include additional risks that investor should be aware of including credit risk, prepayment risk, possible illiquidity, and default, as well as increased susceptibility to adverse economic developments. Investments in lower‐rated and non‐rated securities present a greater risk of loss to principal and interest than higher‐rated securities. The fund may make short sales of securities, which involves the risk that losses may exceed the original amount invested. Leverage may cause the effect of an increase or decrease in the value of the portfolio securities to be magnified and the fund to be more volatile than if leverage was not used.
Derivatives may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, market, credit, management, and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous. Investing in derivatives could lose more than the amount invested. The fund may make short sales of securities, which involves the risk that losses may exceed the original amount invested. Merger arbitrage investments risk loss if a proposed reorganization in which the fund invests is renegotiated or terminated. Multi-investment management styles may lead to higher transaction expenses compared to single investment management styles. Outcomes depend on the skill of the sub-advisors and advisor and the allocation of assets amongst them.
Litman Gregory Fund Advisors, LLC is ultimately responsible for the performance of the funds due to its responsibility to oversee the investment sub‐advisors and recommend their hiring, termination and replacement.
References to other mutual funds should not be deemed an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy shares of such funds.
The funds are distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.
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