Three Mesirow Financial investing teams have partnered up for the first time, powering the firm's third mutual fund. Watch for more mutual funds, as well as SMAs and CITs, down the line from the Chicago-based, employee-owned financial services firm.

Christopher C. Langs Mesirow Financial Managing Director Fixed Income Management

This morning, Peter Hegel, head of Mesirow's core fixed income team, and Joe Hoffman, head of Mesirow's currency management team, unveiled the Mesirow Financial Enhanced Core Plus Fund. The fund comes in both institutional class (ticker MFBIX) and investor class (MFBVX) shares. The fund officially launched on Tuesday, confirms Steve Swierczewski, senior managing director and head of Mesirow's global investment management distribution group.

Steve Charles Swierczewski Mesirow Financial Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Investment Management Distribution

The new fund is powered by: the firm's core fixed income team, led by Hegel; its currency management team, led by Hoffman (who joined in 2017), and incorporating the Cambridge Strategy team (which Mesirow bought in 2018); and its high yield and leveraged loans team (which Mesirow bought in 2017), led by senior managing director Bob Sydow. Chris Langs, who joined Mesirow about a year ago on the core fixed income team, will be the lead PM on the new fund.

Peter W. Hegel Mesirow Financial Senior Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income Management

Those recent team additions and acquisitions "really helped bring this all together," Hegel says, and this fund is the first collaboration between these three teams. All three of the teams have "lengthy track records" of 15 years or more, Hegel notes.

"We'll continue to look for opportunities to collaborate if possible," Hoffman tells MFWire.

Joseph P. Hoffman Mesirow Financial CEO, Currency Management

The "crux of the portfolio," Hegel says, is core fixed income, but with high yield added on (that's the "Plus" in the name) and with a currency overlay (that's the "Enhanced" in the name).

"The most frequent comment we get from investors these days is, 'We are rethinking our fixed income allocations,'" Swierczewski says.

Robert Sydow Mesirow Financial Senior Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income Management

Looking ahead, the Mesirow team is "in discussions" with their series trust partner, SEI, about launching separately managed account or collective investment trust versions of the new fund, Swierczewski says.

The Mesirow team launched their first two MFs last December, and over the summer they revamped their second fund as an ESG fund. Watch for more Mesirow ESG strategies down the line. 

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