Brandywine Global Acquires Diamond Hill High Yield Bond Funds
The deal involves the $2.3 billion Diamond Hill Corporate Credit Fund and the $1.1 billion Diamond Hill High Yield Fund.
Brandywine Global Investment Management, a subsidiary of Franklin Resources, has acquired the high-yield corporate bond funds of Diamond Hill Capital Management.
Final terms of the deal, which was first announced in February and completed as of July 30, were not disclosed, but in its last annual report Diamond Hill said it “will receive an initial cash payment of up to $9.0 million, and may receive additional payments totaling up to $13.0 million based on the net revenue of the acquired funds on the one-year anniversary of the closing date.”
The acquisition involves two actively managed funds: the $2.3 billion Diamond Hill Corporate Credit Fund and the $1.1 billion Diamond Hill High Yield Fund, which have been renamed and have new trading symbols and CUSIPs but retain their existing portfolio managers and investment strategies. Both funds are rated five stars by Morningstar for most or all of their share classes.
The Diamond Hill Corporate Credit Fund is now called the Brandywine Global Corporate Credit Fund, and the Diamond Hill High Yield Fund has been renamed the Brandywine Global High Yield Fund. Both funds now have four share classes instead of three, and fees for same-share funds are unchanged, according to a spokesman. Each fund will retain the historical performance figures of its predecessor fund.
According to the Brandywine announcement, the two funds and their investment team will “complement Brandywine Global’s existing value-driven, macro-oriented offerings and expand its suite of global corporate credit strategies,” as well as introduce new opportunities for collaboration between corporate credit and equity analysis functions.
“We’re thrilled to join Brandywine Global. We’re confident clients will benefit from the marriage of our bottom-up fundamental approach with Brandywine Global’s global, macro-driven insights,” said portfolio manager John McClain in a statement. McClain, along with portfolio manager Bill Zox and senior associate Jack Parker are now members of the Brandywine global fixed income team.
Zox said the team is “looking forward to collaborating” with their new colleagues and “taking advantage of the broader resources of Franklin Templeton. We feel it’s a perfect fit. There is no question we share the same value-driven, benchmark-agnostic, high-conviction philosophy.”
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