As the dust settles from the drama that engulfed TCW at the end of last year, it's back to business for the Los Angeles-based firm. On Monday, the firm launched the Emerging Markets Equities Fund (TGMIX/TGMMX), bringing its mutual fund to 21.

Mark Madden and David Robbins are running the fund, supported by a a team of five researchers. The fund focuses on value-oriented growth opportunities, investing across large, mid, and small-cap emerging markets companies.

“Over the next few years, growth in emerging markets will be substantially higher than in the developed economies, which means that EM companies will deliver greater earnings growth. Emerging economies continue to benefit from both globalization and expanding domestic consumption, stated Madden.

“Emerging markets economies are also better-positioned than the developed world coming out of the credit crisis, with more attractive demographics, less consumer and corporate leverage, and lower fiscal deficits than most of the developed world economies,” Robbins said in a press release.

Management fees for Class I and Class N shares are set at 100 basis points, 12b-1 fees for Class N shares are 25 bps and there is no 12b-1 fee for Class I shares.

TCW has been much in the news of late but not for product launches. On December 4, TCW revealed plans to purchase Metropolitan West Asset Management – whose assets recently surpassed $10 billion plus mark -- in a deal scheduled to close in the first quarter 2010.

At the same time of that announcement, news broke that TCW had parted ways with star manager and CIO Jeff Gundlach. Gundlach has not departed quietly however and December saw a wave of high-profile departures ripple through TCW's ranks, including mutual fund chief Ron Redell and three managing directors. While TCW has since named Chuck Baldiswieler as Redell's replacement and head of the firm's mutual fund business, Gundlach went on to form his own firm, DoubleLine LLC, which counts over 30 ex-TCW employees.

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Company Press Release

LOS ANGELES, CA -- 01/04/10 -- The TCW Group Inc. (TCW), a global asset management firm serving institutional and individual investors, today announced it has launched a new mutual fund, the TCW Emerging Markets Equities Fund (TGMIX/TGMMX).

The fund will be managed by Mark Madden and David Robbins, both veteran portfolio managers with 39 years of combined experience investing in Emerging Markets (EM).

"We are excited to launch this new fund that will target well-run companies in some of the world's fastest-growing economies," said Chuck Baldiswieler, President and Chief Executive Officer of TCW Funds, Inc. "We believe the team led by Mark Madden and Dave Robbins has the experience, expertise and insight to help investors capitalize on the growth and development of the world's emerging economies."

"These are exciting times for investors who are willing to take a global perspective," said Madden, who began investing in Emerging Markets in 1993. "Over the next few years, growth in Emerging Markets will be substantially higher than in the developed economies, which means that EM companies will deliver greater earnings growth. Emerging economies continue to benefit from both globalization and expanding domestic consumption." Robbins added, "Emerging market economies are also better positioned than the developed world coming out of the credit crisis, with more attractive demographics, less consumer and corporate leverage, and lower fiscal deficits than most of the developed world economies."

The new fund will focus on growth opportunities with a value bias, and will invest across the large, mid, and small-cap EM universe. Portfolio construction and security selection will be driven by an integrated top-down and bottom-up investment process with position size and rebalancing based on reward-risk analysis. The portfolio managers will be supported initially by a five-person research team.

The TCW Emerging Markets Equities Fund expands TCW's Emerging Markets fund offerings, which include the TCW Emerging Markets Income Fund (TGEIX/TGINX), an EM sovereign and corporate debt mutual fund, and a worldwide opportunities strategy for institutional investors and high net worth individuals that invests in both EM debt and equity. All three strategies are managed by TCW's Global Emerging Markets Group, led by veteran TCW Portfolio Manager Penny Foley together with Madden and Robbins.

About Mark Madden

Prior to joining TCW in 2009, Mr. Madden was the lead portfolio manager at Ninth Wave Capital Management, an investment advisor focusing on special situations in Emerging Markets. From 2004 to 2007, he was the sole manager of the $14 billion in dedicated Emerging Markets assets at OppenheimerFunds, which included the OppenheimerFunds Developing Markets Fund. Mr. Madden started the Emerging Markets research effort at Pioneer Investments in 1993 and built it to $1.6 billion in assets by 2004, when he left Pioneer to join OppenheimerFunds. While at Pioneer, he was instrumental in establishing Pioneer's overseas research and management groups based in Warsaw, Prague, Chennai, Taipei and Moscow. Mr. Madden holds a BS from Trinity College, an MBA from University of Virginia and is a CFA charterholder.

About David Robbins

Mr. Robbins is a Managing Director with TCW Worldwide Opportunities and the Portfolio Manager and a Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Fixed Income strategy. Prior to joining TCW in 2000, Mr. Robbins invested in private equity. Before that, he was with Lehman Brothers where he was responsible for global emerging markets trading in the Fixed Income division. Previously, he worked at Morgan Stanley, where he was head of Emerging Markets Trading. Mr. Robbins received a BA in Economics and History from Swarthmore College.

About TCW Funds

TCW Funds, Inc. is an open-end investment company, consisting of 21 separate mutual funds sold primarily to individual investors and retirement plans.

About TCW

Founded in 1971, The TCW Group, Inc. develops and manages a broad range of innovative, value-added investment products that strive to enhance and protect clients' wealth. The firm has approximately $108 billion in assets under management. TCW clients include many of the largest corporate and public pension plans, financial institutions, endowments and foundations in the U.S., as well as a substantial number of foreign investors and high net worth individuals. TCW is a subsidiary of Société Générale. For more information, please refer to www.tcw.com .

 

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