A $4-billion-AUM (as of December 31) boutique's team is rolling out their second mutual fund by transforming a seven-year-old hedge fund take on the same strategy.

Cole W. Smead Smead Capital management President, Portfolio Manager

Today, Bill Smead (founder, chairman, and chief investment officer of Phoenix-based Smead Capital Management, Inc.) and Cole Smead (president of the firm) unveil the Smead International Value Fund, a series of the Smead Funds Trust. The new mutual fund launched yesterday with $25 million in AUM thanks to the reorganization of the Smead International Value Fund LP, a hedge fund they launched seven years ago.

Cole Smead serves as lead PM for the new mutual fund, while Bill Smead serves as co-PM. Currently, they've concentrated the fund's holdings in Canada and Europe, according to the Smead team.

The fund comes in six share class flavors: class Y shares, with an expense ratio of 100 basis points; class I2 shares, for 110 bps; class I1 shares, for 115 bps; Investor class shares, for 125 bps; class A shares, for 142 bps; and class C shares, for 200 bps. A shares also come with a max upfront load of 575 bps, and A and C shares both come with a max deferred load of 100 bps.

Bill Smead notes that, through the new fund, they're applying the firm's "eight criteria for common stock selection" to international stocks. The Smead team puts the launch in the context of U.S. stocks' recent outperformance relative and notes that, despite investors' negative views economic growth in Europe and elsewhere, the Smead teams see "value bargains" oversees.

"We see tremendous value in these wonderful companies over the coming years," Bill Smead states.

"We're coming at this as outsiders with fresh eyes and younger scars," Cole Smead states. "We are using what we've learned as investors in the United States over the last 40 years and applying that knowledge elsewhere around the world."

Other vendors to the new fund include: Cohen and Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; Godfrey and Kahn, S.C. as counsel; State Street Bank and Trust Company as custodian, fund accountant, and fund administrator; UMB Distribution Services, LLC as distributor; and UMB Fund Services, Inc. as dividend paying agent and transfer agent. 

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