MutualFundWire.com: A $3.3B-AUM Team Celebrates a $395MM-AUM Duo

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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

A $3.3B-AUM Team Celebrates a $395MM-AUM Duo

The folks at a 31-year-old, publicly traded asset manager in the Midwest are celebrating the leather anniversary of a $395-million-AUM (as of March 31) pair of funds powered by a $3.3-billion-AUM team in Massachusetts.

Michael A. Cirami
Artisan Partners
Managing Director, Portfolio Manager - EMsights Capital Group

Yesterday, Michael Cirami, managing director at Artisan Partners [profile], and Eric Colson, CEO, highlighted the third birthday of the Artisan Emerging Markets Debt Opportunities Fund and the Artisan Global Unconstrained Fund. Both open-end, actively managed mutual funds are powered by Milwaukee-based Artisna's Boston-based EMsights Capital Group, which is led by Cirami, managing director Sarah Orvin, and global trading chief Michael O'Brien.

(Reaching a third anniversary can be a milestone for many funds, potentially opening up new distribution opportunities, as many screening tools and practices automatically ignore funds with less than a three-year track record.)

The Artisan Global Unconstrained Fund's inception date was March 31, 2022. As of March 31, 2025, the fund had $301 million in AUM. It comes in three flavors:

Investor shares (APFPX), with an expense ratio of 151 basis points (baking in a 193bps fee waiver) and a minimum initial investment of $1,000;

Advisor shares (APDPX), with an expense ratio of 141bps (baking in a 63bps fee waiver) and a minimum initial investment of $250,000; and

Institutional shares (APHPX), with an expense ratio of 136bps (baking in a 70bps fee waiver) and a minimum initial investment of $1 million.

The Artisan Emerging Markets Debt Opportunities Fund's inception date was April 7, 2022. As of March 31, 2025, the fund had $94 million in AUM. It comes in three flavors:

Investor shares (APFOX), with an expense ratio of 129bps (baking in a 194bps fee waiver) and a minimum initial investment of $1,000;

Advisor shares (APDOX), with an expense ratio of 119bps (baking in a 67bps fee waiver) and a minimum initial investment of $250,000; and

Institutional shares (APHOX), with an expense ratio of 114bps (baking in a fee waiver of 51bps) and a minimum initial investment of $1 million.

All three share classes of both funds are no load and come with a 200bps short-term redemption fee (i.e. holding periods under 90 days). The fee waivers are promised through January 31, 2026.

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership serves as investment advisor to both the Artisan Emerging Markets Debt Opportunities Fund and the Artisan Global Unconstrained Fund. Both funds have been PMed since inception by Orvin and Cirami.

Colson highlights "the momentum behind EMsights Capital Group."

"Looking ahead, we're excited about the team's future and confident in our ability to continue generating differentiated results for investors," Colson states. "With these strategies hitting their third anniversary, we anticipate accelerated business development. The wind is at our back."

"It's been an amazing three years. The volatility we've experienced validates our approach — bottom-up research and a deep understanding of the markets in which we operate," Cirami states. "We've managed to not only navigate the turbulence but leverage it to deliver strong returns."

Both birthday funds are series of Artisan Partners Funds. Their other service providers include:

Artisan Partners Distributors LLC as distributor;

Ernst & Young LLP as independent accounting firm;

Goldman Sachs Bank USA as securities lending agent;

JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. as custodian;

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as counsel; and

SS&C Global Investor & Distribution Solutions, Inc. as transfer agent.