Morningstar dominated the small fund firm pack last month.

Kunal Kapoor Morningstar CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on April 2019 ETF and open-end mutual fund flows (excluding money-market funds and funds of funds). This article focuses specifically on the 159 firms (six more than in March) with between $1 billion and $10 billion in fund AUM each (in mutual funds and ETFs). 83 of those firms gained net inflows last month.

M* brought in an estimated $899 million in net April inflows, more than any other small fund firm and up from $7 million in net March outflows. Other big April winners included: Southeastern's Longleaf, $322 million (up from $113 million in outflows); Innovator, $226 million (up from $3 million); BMO, $219 million (up from $21 million); and GQG, $184 million (up from $64 million).

Morningstar also led the small fund firm pack proportionately, bringing in estimated net April inflows equivalent to 38.48 percent of its AUM, up from 0.48 percent in net outflows. Other big April winners included: Innovator, 18.03 percent (up from 0.28 percent); GQG, 12.12 percent (up from 4.91 percent); Jackson Square, 5.92 percent (up from 5.38 percent); and AAM, 5.32 percent (up from 2.41 percent).

On the flip side, April was a rough month for Robeco's Boston Partners, which suffered an estimated $305 million in net outflows, more than any other small fund firm and up from $226 million in March. Other big April sufferers included: Westwood, $157 million (down from $166 million); Brookfield, $146 million (up from $39 million); Tortoise, $143 million (up from $34 million); and Hennessy, $121 million (up from $86 million).

Proportionately, Acadian led the small fund firm outflows pack last month, with estimated net April outflows equivalent to 8.89 percent of its AUM, down from 0.06 percent in net March inflows. Other big April sufferers included: Chartwell, 5.99 percent (up from 4.07 percent); Chiron, 5.86 percent (up from 3.87 percent); James Advantage, 5.77 percent (up from 4.6 percent); and CRM, 5.75 percent (up from 0.66 percent).

As a group, the 159 small fund firms brought in an estimated $1.955 billion in net inflows in April, equivalent to about 0.38 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 1.31 percent of net industry flows. That's up from $577 million in net small fund firm inflows in March (which accounted for 3.18 percent of net industry flows).

Across the whole industry (M* tracks flows from 775 firms), long-term mutual funds and ETFs brought in a combined $51.004 billion in estimated net inflows in April, equivalent to 0.27 percent of industry AUM. Passive funds brought in $65.543 billion, while active funds suffered $14.539 billion in net outflows. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE