New York Life has added the Tax-Managed Equity fund to its Eclipse fund lineup. The new fund leverages the skills of Q.E.D. Investments, a firm with extensive experience in the wrap account space, explained Beverly J. Moore, manager director and head of marketing for the Mainstay and Eclipse funds.

Dr. Bernard Tew, managing director of affiliate Q.E.D. Investments, is the lead portfolio manager of the fund.

The core equity fund, which opened Friday, is an enhanced index fund pegged to the S&P 500 index and uses quantitative models to select stocks. The no-load shares will be sold through advisors and the major fund supermarkets. It carries service class shares with a 25 basis point 12b-1 fee to compensate those channels, explained Mark Jacobs, director of marketing for the Eclipse Funds.

Jacobs said that there are no plans yet to offer more tax-managed funds. "We have not done anything quite like this before," he said. "We will wait to see how this works to see if we will offer more of this type of fund."

He was also coy about the firm's plans to add other funds. "We are looking to keep pace with the marketplace and stay forward thinking with where the family is growing," he explained.

The fund was seeded with $50 million in assets. Altogether, the 18 Eclipse Funds hold $3.16 billion in assets.  

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