Vanguard Closing $963M Convertible Securities Fund
According to Vanguard, the fund has not won "broad acceptance."
Vanguard says its nearly $963 million convertible securities fund is closed to new investors as part of the fund’s late-March liquidation. Fund investors can exchange their shares for another Vanguard fund or redeem them.
The fund giant, which works with over $5 trillion of total assets, launched the fund in 1986, mainly for pension funds, endowments, and corporate and nonprofit retirement plans. But it recently concluded investors could have similar risk-return exposures and long-term returns by working with a mix of global stock and bond funds.
“Despite the fund’s capable advisor and prudent approach to managing convertible securities, the fund has not gained broad acceptance among these investors and remains one of the smallest offerings in terms of net assets among Vanguard’s stock and balanced offerings,” Vanguard said in a statement on Thursday.
As for of its regular reviews of fund offerings, “We are adding new products that have investment merit and investor demand, changing advisors and mandates to improve investor outcomes, and eliminating funds that lack a distinct role or strong investment case,” according to Matthew Brancato, head of Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department.
Oaktree Capital Management will oversee the liquidation and continue to manage portions of the U.S.-domiciled Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund and the U.K.-domiciled Vanguard Global Emerging Markets Fund.
Vanguard liquidated its Ohio Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund in 2017 and the U.K.-domiciled Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund in 2018.
In mid-December, the fund firm said it planned to merge the $15 billion Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund and the $10 billion Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund.
Following the merger, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2019, the fund will retain the U.S. Growth Fund name and continue to invest primarily in large-cap stocks of U.S. companies considered to have above-average earnings growth potential and reasonable stock prices in comparison with expected earnings.