Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, the firm founded in July by former Wasatch PMs Robert Gardiner and Blake Walker, is launching two mutual funds on October 17th: the Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund and the Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund.
The Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund will be a portfolio of global equities with a strong bias towards small and micro cap companies and the Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund will be an equities portfolio focused on small and micro cap companies outside of the United States.
“Given the vast number of high quality, growing, and underfollowed small/micro cap companies abroad, we believe this is the single most interesting segment of the global equities landscape for the coming decade,” stated Walker.
The Grandeur Peak Funds will each have two share classes, an Investor share class requiring a minimum investment of $2000 and an Institutional share class requiring a minimum investment of $100,000. Both funds charge a management fee of 125 basis points.
Company Press Release
Former Wasatch Team Announces Funds Launch
Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities and International Opportunities Funds
to Launch October 17th
Salt Lake City, Utah (September 28, 2011) - Grandeur Peak Global AdvisorsSM, the firm founded in July by former Wasatch portfolio managers Robert Gardiner and Blake Walker, announced today that it will be launching two mutual funds on Monday, October 17th: the Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund and the Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund.
Robert Gardiner, CEO and Portfolio Manager, said “We believe there is a compelling opportunity to bring a global perspective to small/micro cap investing. In a world where business is increasingly global and country boundaries continue to blur, we believe the best long-term investment opportunities can be uncovered by investors who are fully canvassing the world to find and consider each company within its global context.” Mr. Gardiner continued “Our vision for global investing includes disciplined screening to find interesting companies in every part of the world, thorough hands-on research to sort the wheat from the chaff, and careful monitoring of valuations in an effort to maximize investment results. We are long-term investors, looking for companies that we believe have great growth potential over the next five years and beyond.”
Co-Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer Blake Walker added “Our bias is towards small and micro cap companies because we believe we can find faster growth among these firms, and often at better valuations due to the lack of analyst coverage. The universe of impressive yet underfollowed small and micro cap companies around the world is extensive and growing every day. There are a tremendous number of high quality companies with strong growth potential which are simply too small to catch the eye of Wall Street analysts and larger mutual funds.”
The Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund will be a portfolio of global equities with a strong bias towards small and micro cap companies. Investments will include companies based in the U.S., developed foreign countries, and emerging/frontier markets. The portfolio has flexibility to adjust its investment mix by market cap, country, and sector in order to invest where we believe the best global opportunities currently exist. Mr. Gardiner noted “we plan to run a shorter list of holdings with our favorite 100-150 opportunities. This should provide a more dynamic portfolio and be more cost effective for shareholders.” See the Prospectus for additional fund detail.
The Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund will be an equities portfolio focused on small and micro cap companies outside of the United States. Said Mr. Walker “Given the vast number of high quality, growing, and underfollowed small/micro cap companies abroad, we believe this is the single most interesting segment of the global equities landscape for the coming decade.” See the Prospectus for additional fund detail.
Eric Huefner, President and co-Founder, said “We have taken an aggressive approach in building a strong global research team from the outset, including two veteran portfolio managers and four other experienced analysts. We are committed to the integrity of our research process and being fully resourced to build what we believe to be world-class global portfolios. Our team members speak multiple languages, have lived and traveled throughout the world, and share a common passion for global small cap investing.” Click here to see the biographies of the full team: Grandeur Peak Team Bios.
Each member/analyst of the Grandeur Peak research team has primary responsibility for one of the six global industry sectors. The members also act as general analysts, working collaboratively across the full research team to vet each company that is considered for the portfolios. The portfolio managers are analysts first and foremost, and lead the team in crafting an appropriate portfolio for each fund.
The Grandeur Peak Funds will each have two share classes, an Investor share class requiring a minimum investment of $2000 and an Institutional share class requiring a minimum investment of $100,000. The 1.25% management fee for both the Global Opportunities and the International Opportunities funds will be the lowest management fee of any fund that Mr. Gardiner or Mr. Walker have managed. The Funds also have an expense cap in place to help control the impact to shareholders of the significant start-up and global expenses. Noted Mr. Gardiner, “We are looking for shareholders who want to be our long-term partners. We have structured and priced our Funds in a way to make them accessible to any investor who shares our global vision and approach.”
The Grandeur Peak mutual fund share classes and corresponding tickers are:
* Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund, Investor Class (GPGOX)
* Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund, Institutional Class (GPGIX)
* Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund, Investor Class (GPIOX)
* Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund, Institutional Class (GPIIX)
The Grandeur Peak Funds will be available for direct purchase on October 17th by calling
1-855-377-PEAK (7325), or by visiting www.grandeurpeakglobal.com to set up an account on-line or download an application (note: this functionality will not be available on the website until October 17th). The firm is currently working to get selling agreements in place with Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Pershing, Vanguard, and other third party intermediaries. It is expected that the Investor share classes will be available on No Transaction Fee platforms and the Institutional share classes will be available on Transaction Fee platforms. Said Mr. Huefner, “We are moving as quickly as possible to make our funds available through third party platforms. The speed at which our funds will be set up is typically determined by the intermediary. We welcome the assistance of any interested investors willing to place a request for the Grandeur Peak Funds with their preferred platform.”
ALPS Fund Services in Denver, CO will be providing full back-office support for the Grandeur Peak Funds. Mr. Huefner noted “we have worked with ALPS for a number of years and are pleased to have them working side-by-side with us on our new funds. They will provide a great backbone for the funds’ operations. We will also shortly be more formally announcing two additional members to the Grandeur Peak team, one an industry veteran who spent 15 years at Wasatch Advisors building and then managing the firm’s operations team and who is currently the CCO of a financial services company; the other a seasoned investment professional who will be leaving his Director of Public Markets role in the CIO office for a university endowment to head up our client relations efforts. We are thrilled with the initial team we have in place and feel well prepared to create a world-class global investment firm.”
About Grandeur Peak Global Advisors
Grandeur Peak Global Advisors is comprised of a highly seasoned and collaborative research team taking a bottom-up approach to investing using disciplined global screening, rigorous company due diligence, and close attention to valuation to find what we believe to be the best investment opportunities around the world. Our bias is towards small and micro cap companies because we believe we can find faster growth among these firms, and often at better valuations due to the lack of analyst coverage. Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, LLC is an employee-owned investment adviser headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.