One Compass Advisors is replacing one sub-advisor with three after seeing "disappointing investment results" in a bond fund. Jefferson, Indiana-based One Compass hired Baird Advisors, Earnest Partners and Sterling Capital to sub-advise the $396 million New Covenant Fund, replacing Wachovia Corp. unit Tattersall Advisory Group.

"One Compass Advisors and third party consultants worked together to identify factors that contributed to the New Covenant Income Fund's recent disappointing investment results," said Paul Stropkay, One Compass' chief investment officer.

"Having reviewed the findings, the Fund voted unanimously to hire Baird, Earnest, and Sterling," Stropkay said. "We feel confident in their processes, people and philosophies."

Stropkay did not name the consultants that aided One Compass, which is part of the Presbyterian Foundation Group, with its search.

One of the largest faith-based families of funds specializing in socially responsible investing, the New Covenant family encompasses five funds.

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Press Release

Jeffersonville, IN (November 18, 2008) – One Compass Advisors, investment advisor to New Covenant Funds, announces the selection of three new sub-advisors to provide asset management services to the New Covenant Income Fund. Baird Advisors; Earnest Partners, LLC; and Sterling Capital Management, LLC will replace Tattersall Advisory Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Wachovia Corporation, as sub-advisors to the New Covenant Income Fund, a no-load bond fund with total assets under management of $396 million as of November 14, 2008.

Each of the three sub-advisors has been selected to carry out a core bond mandate as determined by One Compass Advisors. Baird Advisors, a division of Robert W. Baird & Company, Inc., headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manages over $14.5 billion in assets. The firm will pursue a duration-neutral strategy that will attempt to mitigate the risk associated with changes in interest rates. Baird Advisors also has professional expertise in mortgage-backed securities and will manage the mortgage-backed securities sector of the portfolio. Earnest Partners, based in Atlanta, Georgia, manages more than $16.2 billion in total assets. Its bond management approach will emphasize AAA-rated securities that are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury, but are not Treasury securities. Sterling Capital Management, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, has $10 billion in total assets under management and will pursue a strategy that will attempt to capitalize on duration, sector, and credit opportunities. While each of these three sub-advisors has been directed to pursue a core bond mandate on behalf of the New Covenant Income Fund, their approaches are intended to complement one another. Certain assets will be transferred to each sub-advisor in-kind from the current sub-adviser to minimize transaction costs associated with wide bid-ask spreads that prevail at this time.

"One Compass Advisors and third party consultants worked together to identify factors that contributed to the New Covenant Income Fund’s recent disappointing investment results. Having reviewed the findings, the Fund voted unanimously to hire Baird, Earnest, and Sterling. We feel confident in their processes, people, and philosophies,” stated Paul Stropkay, CFA and Chief Investment Officer. “New Covenant Income Fund seeks to achieve returns commensurate with high quality, intermediate term, fixed income securities, while providing current income and preservation of capital,” he continued.

New Covenant Funds is one of the largest faith-based families of mutual funds specializing in a socially responsible investment strategy in the United States. In addition to the New Covenant Income Fund, there are four other New Covenant Funds: a no-load equity fund called New Covenant Growth Fund, two no-load balanced funds (New Covenant Balanced Growth and New Covenant Balanced Income Funds - each comprised of unique allocations of New Covenant Growth and New Covenant Income Fund), and a money market fund, New Covenant Treasury Obligations Fund.

For more information about New Covenant Funds, visit www.newcovenantfunds.org.

 

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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