ETF giant Vanguard has added Canadian fund manager Sprucegrove Investment Management to its roster of active management firms. Effective October 12, 2020, Sprucegrove will join Lazard Asset Management and ARGA Investment Management in overseeing the $9.8 billion Vanguard International Value Fund. Sprucegrove will manage the 35% of the fund previously overseen by Edinburgh Partners.
Sprucegrove is a Toronto-based boutique asset manager with $13.8 billion in assets under management. Founded in 1993, the employee-owned firm maintains an investment philosophy focused on constructing portfolios of quality companies at attractive valuations. Arjun Kumar, CFA, and Shirley Woo, CFA, will co-manage Sprucegrove’s portion of the Vanguard fund.
“Vanguard has decades of experience in selecting and partnering with active managers. We continuously search for world-class investment talent that brings a particular expertise and experience to specific mandates,” said Kaitlyn Caughlin, head of the Vanguard Portfolio Review Department. “We welcome Sprucegrove as a valuable addition to our talented roster of investment management partners.”
The fund invests in companies from developed and emerging markets around the world that its advisors view as temporarily undervalued by the markets. The fund invests in large-, mid-, and small-capitalization companies and diversifies its assets in countries across developed and emerging markets.
As a result of Vanguard’s performance-based fee arrangements, the fund’s expense ratio is expected to increase 1 basis point to 0.38%, well below the average asset-weighted expense ratio of 0.98% for foreign large value funds.
Vanguard is not just an ETF fund manager
With more than $1.6 trillion in active assets, Vanguard is one of the largest providers of actively managed funds in the world as well as being a leader in exchange-traded funds.
Vanguard says its philosophy on active management is rooted in its commitment to partnering with top-tier advisors—both internal and external—and taking a long-term, disciplined approach to investing to give investors the best chance of success in achieving their investment goals.
Vanguard has delivered consistent and sustained outperformance through more than 45 years of active management. Over the last ten years, 90% of Vanguard’s actively managed funds outperformed their peer group average, enabled by rigorous fund oversight, access to a diverse roster of world-class active management talent, and the ability to keep costs low.
