Aston Asset Management has launched an alternative strategy fund sub-advised by Lake Partners. The Class I shares of the Aston/Lake Partners LASSO Alternatives Fund comes with a net expense ratio of 285 basis points.

The launch brings the total number of Aston funds to 25.

The new offering is structured as a fund-of-funds and employs the LASSO Long and Short Strategic Opportunities Strategy.

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Company Press Release

Chicago, IL – April 15, 2009 – Aston Asset Management LLC ("Aston") is pleased to announce the addition of a new mutual fund to their family of funds, the Aston/Lake Partners LASSO Alternatives Fund, Class I (Ticker: ALSOX). This Fund opened to new investors on April 1, 2009 and brings the total number of Aston Funds to twenty-five.

Aston will act as the investment adviser to the new Fund, while Greenwich, CT-based Lake Partners, Inc. will serve as the Fund’s subadviser. The Fund is structured as a Fund-of-Funds and uses the proprietary LASSO® Long and Short Strategic Opportunities® strategy. LASSO seeks to produce long-term total returns with lower volatility and/or reduced correlations compared with traditional equity and fixed-income strategies across the full market cycle. "Aston Funds is continuing to provide investors with distinct institutional investment strategies aimed at controlling risk and driving returns," said Stuart D. Bilton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aston. “This new fund provides a unique solution to meet growing investor demand for alternative strategies in a regulated mutual fund format. Lake Partners has the experience and expertise to provide this strategy, and we truly look forward to our partnership.”

For over 20 years, Lake Partners has specialized in overseeing multi-manager investment programs for institutional and private investors, using primarily alternative investments. With over $4 billion of consulting assets and $250 million in assets under management (as of 12/31/08), the firm is recognized for its expertise in hedge funds as well as alternative strategies in mutual funds. The firm uses top-down and bottom-up analysis, evaluating macro and fundamental trends, the unique and changing characteristics of alternative strategies, and each manager’s role in a portfolio.

"We are very excited about the Aston/Lake Partners LASSO Alternatives Fund,” said Frederick C. Lake, co-founder of Lake Partners and co-portfolio manager to the Fund with Ronald A. Lake. “The LASSO strategy is an example of our extensive experience in using a multi-manager investment approach for clients."

“The fund is designed for investors seeking user-friendly access to alternative strategies and professionals seeking an asset allocation solution,” noted Ronald A. Lake, who is also editor of Evaluating and Implementing Hedge Fund Strategies (Euromoney, 2003, 3rd Ed.)

The fund seeks to simultaneously pursue returns and manage risk by investing in a diversified portfolio of registered funds using alternative strategies – including long and short positions, hedging, market neutral, global macro and arbitrage, among others. The variety of underlying funds may encompass U.S. or international mandates, equities and fixed income, as well as commodities and currencies.

The portfolio managers will select underlying funds based on a number of quantitative and qualitative factors, including consistency of performance, risk characteristics, a fund’s expertise in implementing its strategy and how a fund contributes to the risk/return profile of the overall portfolio. The portfolio may use open- and closed-end funds, as well as exchange traded funds or notes.

Note: The use of derivative instruments, short selling, leveraging and investing in commodities, commodity-linked and non-U.S. companies involve significant risks and losses may occur. By investing in a fund-of-funds you will incur the expense and risks of the fund in addition to those of the underlying funds in the portfolio.

About Aston Asset Management LLC

Aston Asset Management LLC, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a diversified institutional investment management firm. Aston offers investment management services to the mutual fund and separately managed account markets. Aston is the advisor to twenty-five mutual funds with total net assets of approximately $3.8 billion as of March 31, 2009.

 

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