Portfolio Managers

James Fallon, Matthew Krummell, Jonathan Sage, and John Stocks will become PMs of the MFS Blended Research Mid Cap Equity Fund, effective August 19.

Ashwin Alankar, executive vice president at Janus, became a co-PM of the Janus Diversified Alternatives Fund alongside co-PM John Fujiwara, effective in July.

Upcoming

Exchange Traded Concepts is developing the WEAR ETF, which will be subadvised by Vident Investment Advisory.

BlackRock is developing the iShares 5-10 Year USD Bond ETF.

Chilton Investment Company is developing the Chilton Strategic European Equities Fund.

Share Classes

The Foundry Partners Fundamental Small Cap Value Fund's A shares will convert into retail shares, and those retail shares will be renamed as investor shares, all effective August 30.

Alger is adding Z-2 shares of the Alger Capital Appreciation Institutional Fund, the Alger Mid Cap Growth Institutional Fund, and the Alger Small Cap Growth Institutional Fund. Alger is also adding Z shares of the Alger Green Fund and the Alger Mid Cap Focus Fund.

Federated plans to add R6 shares of the Federated Mid-Cap Index Fund.

On August 12 Vanguard did a "1-for-100 reverse share split" for the Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund and the Vanguard Municipal Cash Management Fund.

On August 11, BMO converted its Target Retirement Funds' I shares into R6 shares.

Voya plans to liquidate T shares of its Voya Index Solution target date fund series on August 31.

Wells Fargo plans to convert all shares of its Wells Fargo Wealthbuilders Portfolios target risk fund series into class C shares of the same funds. The conversion is planned for February 10, 2017.

Mergers and Liquidations

The DSM Large Cap Growth Fund reorganized into the Touchstone Large Company Growth Fund on August 15.

The Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Smaller Companies Fund, the Aberdeen Ultra-Short Duration Bond Fund, the Aberdeen European Equity Fund, and the Aberdeen Latin American Equity Fund all liquidated on August 15.

The Aberdeen Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund merged into the Aberdeen Emerging Markets Debt Fund on August 15.

Milliman Financial Risk Management plans to liquidate the Even Keel Multi-Asset Managed Risk Fund on September 16.

Wells Fargo plans to liquidate the Wells Fargo Money Market Fund Daily Class, the Wells Fargo Municipal Money Market Fund Sweep Class, and the Wells Fargo National Tax-Free Money Market Fund Sweep Class, all on September 1. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo is also proposing to merge the Wells Fargo Municipal Money Market Fund into the Wells Fargo National Tax-Free Money Market Fund.

Reopening

T. Rowe Price will reopen the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund to most new investors, effective September 1.

Wells Fargo will reopen the Wells Fargo Discovery Fund to new investors, effective September 12.

Investment Strategy

Alger plans to tweak "the definition of small cap securities" to give more flexibility to the PMs of the Alger Small Cap Focus Fund and the Alger Small Cap Growth Fund, effective October 14.

Vanguard is tweaking the strategy for the Vanguad Financials Index Fund, as "the Global Industry Classification Standard is removing all real estate securities [except mortgage REITs] from the financials sector."

Calvert will shift the Calvert Global Energy Solutions Fund from an active strategy to a passive one, effective October 3.

Exemptive Relief

DFA amended its request for exemptive relief to use a subadvised, multi-manager structure.

Davis amended its request for exemptive relief to launch active ETFs.

Virtus requested exemptive relief around using a subadvised, multi-manager structure.

Oakhurst Advisors and Series Portfolios Trust requested exemptive relief around using a subadvised, multi-manager structure.

Fidelity requested exemptive relief to create a new kind of ETF-like and closed-end-fund-like structure, called an Exchange-Traded Active Fund (ETAF).

M&A

Bill Miller is buying Legg Mason's 50-percent stake in LMM and plans to reorganize the Legg Mason Opportunity Trust and the Miller Income Opportunity Trust into new funds that will be advised by LMM and unconnected with Legg Mason.

Rebranding

The Aberdeen Global Fixed Income Fund rebranded as the Aberdeen Global Unconstrained Fixed Income Fund, effective August 15.

The WHV International Equity Fund and the WHV/Acuity Tactical Credit Long/Short Fund rebranded, effective August 12, as the Shelton International Select Equity Fund and the Shelton Tactical Credit Fund, respectively.

Tickers

Direxion removed the ticker (EUFS) for the Direxion Daily European Financials Bear 2X Shares ETF, and the Direxion Daily European Financials Bear 1X Shares ETF adopted that ticker.

Fees

Putnam will update the fee schedule for the Putnam RetirementReady Funds target date series, effective September 1.

Eaton Vance plans to drop the redemption fee for its Parametric Tax-Managed Emerging Markets Fund on September 1.



Check our last Filings For Fundsters column (previously called Stork and Reaper) for more SEC filing updates. For the latest new hires and fund launches, explore our People on the Move and New Fund Fuss columns. If you have a fund filing, a mutual fund launch, a product change or a new hire that you would like to announce, please contact the MFWire team at editors@investmentwires.com. 

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