Natixis Launches Mirova International Sustainable Fund: Portfolio Products

Natixis Investment Managers launched a new international equity mutual fund which utilizes the sustainable investing experience of its sustainable investing affiliate Mirova.

The Mirova International Sustainable Equity Fund (MRVYX) is an all-cap international equity fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation.

The fund also seeks to maximize exposure to companies with a positive impact on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, while avoiding companies whose activities or products have a negative impact on or create risk to achieving such goals.

"At Mirova, we believe there's an inextricable link between long-term value creation and sustainability," Jens Peers, chief investment officer of sustainable equities at Mirova, said in a statement. "We feel that investors should be connected to the real world economy by investing in innovative businesses that play a real role in building a sustainable world, and therefore, we are giving investors the opportunity to be actively involved in improving corporate environmental, social and governance practices."

Peers is also a co-manager of the new fund.

Mirova takes a thematic approach, investing in companies they believe present opportunities and solutions related to sustainable development themes derived from long-term transitions – demographics, environmental issues, technological advances, and governance changes.

The managers conduct detailed fundamental research to select companies they believe are well-managed, are expected to benefit from strong, sustainable competitive advantages, and have demonstrated a solid financial structure while avoiding irresponsible risks. Managers invest in securities trading at significant discounts to what they believe are their intrinsic values.

American Beacon Advisors and Man AHL Unveil New Mutual Fund

American Beacon Advisors announced the launch of the American Beacon AHL TargetRisk Fund, a newly organized mutual fund based on the existing Man AHL TargetRisk multi-asset program.

The American Beacon AHL TargetRisk Fund aims to provide capital growth with a balanced, long-only approach, active risk management, and diversification across a broad range of markets. The fund's sub-advisor is the London-based AHL Partners ("Man AHL"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Man Group, a global active investment management firm and one of the largest publicly listed global hedge fund providers.

The fund allocates its assets across equities, bonds, interest rates, corporate credit, and commodities, investing primarily in derivatives vehicles. Its proprietary quantitative approach seeks to provide an excess return with a stable level of volatility regardless of market conditions.

The fund's shares became available on Dec. 31, 2018: Institutional Class (AHTIX), Investor Class (AHTPX) and Y Class (AHTYX). The fund has total annual operating expenses of 2.04% for Institutional Class, 2.42% for Investor Class and 2.14% for Y Class.

First Pacific Advisors Launches New Bond Fund

First Pacific Advisors launched first new bond fund since 1984.

The new bond fund – FPA Flexible Fixed Income Fund (FPFIX) – is First Pacific Advisors' first new bond fund since becoming adviser to FPA New Income, Inc. (FPNIX) in 1984.

The FPA Flexible Fixed Income Fund seeks to provide long-term total return, which includes income and capital appreciation, while considering capital preservation. A maximum 75% of the portfolio market value can be rated BBB+ and below.

According to First Pacific Advisors, the fund may be attractive to fixed income investors who want an offering that has greater flexibility to take advantage of high-yield credit cycles while remaining focused on seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns and capital preservation.

The fund's management fee is 0.50%.

Sierra Mutual Funds Introduces Income-Oriented Fund

Sierra Mutual Funds announced the launch of the Sierra Tactical Municipal Fund.

The fund will typically hold a variety of selected actively-managed municipal-bond mutual funds (and occasionally municipal bond ETFs), but will move temporarily into money-market relatively early in each decline in the muni market.

The fund will seek total return, including tax-exempt dividends and interest, while also seeking to limit downside risk.

According to Sierra Mutual Funds, interest income from municipal bonds – or, the monthly dividends from the fund – is tax-free at the federal level, providing a potentially valuable benefit for clients in high income-tax brackets.

Sierra also hopes to capture parts of the periodic rising trends in price of the underlying funds, through its buy and sell disciplines.

Three share classes of the fund (STMNX, STMEX and STMYX) are available to retail investors. The fund also offers the typical Class A shares (STMKX). The fund has total annual expenses of 1.65% to 2.05% depending on share class.

All share classes have a minimum initial investment of $10,000.

GQG Partners Reduces Fees for Emerging Markets Equity Fund

Effective Jan. 1, GQG Partners reduced management fees and expense ratios across all share classes of its GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund for U.S. investors.

The management fee across all share classes of the GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund was reduced from 0.95% to 0.90%.

In addition, the firm reduced total annual fund operating expense ratios – net and gross – for the fund.

For GQGIX Institutional Shares, the net expense ratio was reduced from 1.08% to 0.98%* and the gross total expense ratio from 1.15% to 1.10%.

For GQGPX Retail Shares, the net expense ratio was reduced from 1.26% to 1.16% and the gross expense ratio from 1.33% to 1.28%.

For GQGRX Retirement/R6 Shares, the net expense ratio was reduced from 1.08% to 0.98% and the gross expense ratio from 1.15% to 1.10%.

Tim Carver, chief executive officer of GQG Partners, said of the fee change: "As our business has grown, we believe that our clients should benefit from economies of scale. We now manage over US$5 billion in our Emerging Markets Equity strategy globally, giving us efficiencies that we can pass through to end investors. When we talk about alignment, this is what we mean."

— Read the last portfolio product roundup on ThinkAdvisor here: Wealthfront Integrates With Crypto Accounts on Coinbase: Portfolio Products