A familiar player's entrance into the proprietary mutual fund business led the pack last month among the smallest fund firms, even as group outflows worsened.

This article draws on Morningstar Direct data on November 2018 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows (excluding money market funds and funds of funds), specifically for firms with under $1 billion each in fund AUM.

Morningstar's investment management arm led the smallest fund firm pack last month with its new, subadvised fund family, bringing in an estimated $645 million in net November inflows. Other big November winners included: O'Shares, $192 million (up from $13 million in net outflows in October); AAAMCO, $56 million (up from $20 million); ETF Managers Trust, $51 million (down from $105 million); and Liberty Street, $49 million (up from $22 million).

On a relative basis, setting aside apparent newcomers, Distillate Capital led the November pack among the smallest firms, thanks to estimated net November inflows equivalent to 55.56 percent of its AUM after first launching in October. Other big November winners included: Investec, 49.58 percent (up from 4.22 percent); CMG, 49.56 percent (up from 8.3 percent); Logan Circle Partners, 34.1 percent (down from 36.24 percent); and AAAMCO. 25.45 percent (up from 12.01 percent).

There were also three apparent November newcomers (i.e. firms whose AUM was roughly equal to their monthly net inflows): Gadsden, Wealthn, and Morningstar Investment Management.

On the flip side, November was a rough month for Lyrical, which suffered an estimated $242 million in net outflows — more than any other sub-$1-billion-AUM fund firm and down from $52 million in net October inflows. Other big November outflows sufferers included: Chilton, $220 million (up from $4 million); American Independence, $108 million (up from $3 million); Broadview, $104 million (up from $3 million); and Abbey Capital, $90 million (up from $13 million).

Proportionately, Chilton led the smallest firms in suffering, with estimated net November outflows equivalent to 86.36 percent of its AUM, up from 0.89 percent in October. Other big November outflows sufferers included: American Independence, 63.09 percent (up from 1.03 percent); Thomas White, 43.01 percent (up from 7.46 percent); Centaur, 32.76 percent (up from 5.6 percent); and Broadview, 27.27 percent (up from 0.69 percent).

Of 524 sub-$1-billion-AUM fund firms (with a combined $97 billion in AUM), 317 suffered net outflows last month, while 202 gained net inflows and five had flat flows. As a group, the smallest fund firms suffered an estimated $452 million in combined net outflows, equivalent to 0.47 percent of their combined AUM. That's up from $305 million in net outflows in October.

Industrywide, among 783 fund firms with a combined $18.102 trillion in AUM (excluding money funds and funds of funds), 277 gained net inflows, while 501 suffered net outflows. As a group, they suffered a combined $1.443 billion in estimated net outflows, equivalent to about 0.01 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $29.184 billion in net outflows in October. 

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