A 49-year-old, employee-owned Colorado fund firm recently acquired a three-fund family from a wealth management shop in Illinois.

Brian Mitchell Barish Cambiar Investors, LLC President, Chief Investment Officer

Brian Barish, president and chief investment offficer of Cambiar Investors, LLC [profile], confirms that the Great Lakes Disciplined Equity Fund and the Great Lakes Large Cap Value Fund have merged into the $302.3-million-AUM (as of November 30) Cambiar Opportunity Fund, and the Great Lakes Small Cap Opportunity Fund has merged into the $75.3-million-AUM (as of November 30) Cambiar Small Cap Fund. All three mutual fund reorganizations took effect as of December 12, following approval by the acquired funds' shareholders, and the three acquired Great Lakes funds had $66 million in assets, according to the Cambiar team.

"We welcome Great Lakes Funds shareholders to the Cambiar Familiy," Barish states. "We are pleased that Great Lakes chose to partner with Cambiar, and hope to exceed expecations in the pursuit of delivering strong long-term returns for our shareolders."

Chicago-based Great Lakes Advisors, LLC (which had $9.986 billion in AUM as of its most recent form ADV and is part of Wintrust) served as the acquired funds' investment advisor, and those funds were series of the Managed Portfolio Series trust. Cambiar (which has about $4.5 billion in AUS, seven strategies, and 42 employees) serves as the acquiring funds' investment advisor, and they are series of the Advisors' Inner Circle Fund trust. Both of the acquiring funds are PMed by Cambiar's domestic investment team, which includes Barish and four investment principals: Ania Aldrich, Andrew Baumbusch, Joseph Chin, and Colin Dunn.

The Great Lakes Disciplined Equity Fund was PMed by the Great Lakes Disciplined Equity team, which included John Bright (senior portfolio manager) and Jon Quigley (CIO for disciplined equity). The fund launched back in 2009.

The Great Lakes Large Cap Value Fund was PMed by the Great Lakes Value Equity team, which included: Edward Calkins (PM and research analyst), Wells Frice (PM and research analyst), Benjamin KimRay Wicklander (PM and analyst). The fund launched back in 2012.

The Great Lakes Small Cap Opportunity Fund was PMed by Kim. The fund launched back in 2008.

The Great Lakes Small Cap Opportunity Fund came in two flavors: investor shares for 124 basis points and institutional shares for 99 bps. The Cambiar Small Cap Fund (which the Great Lakes Small Opportunity Fund was merged into) comes in the same two flavors, but with lower expense ratios: investor shares for 110 bps and institutional shares for 90 bps.

The Great Lakes Large Cap Value Fund and the Great Lakes Disciplined Equity Fund both came in a single flavor: institutional shares for 85 bps. The Cambiar Opportunity Fund (which the Great Lakes Disciplined Equity Fund and the Great Lakes Large Cap Value Fund were merged into) comes in two flavors: investor shares for 85 bps and institutional shares for 65 bps.

U.S Bank National Association serves as the custodian for the acquiring Cambiar funds, and it served as the custodian for the acquired Great Lakes funds. Yet the two sets of funds' providers are otherwise different.

The acquiring Cambiar funds' other service providers include: DST Systems, Inc. as transfer agent; Ernst & Young LLP as independent accounting firm; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as counsel; SEI Investments Distribution Co. as distributor; and SEI Investments Global Fund Services as administrator.

The acquired Great Lakes funds' other service providers included: Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; Quasar Distributors, LLC as distributor and principal underwriter; Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP as counsel; and U.S. Bancorp Fund Services LLC as fund accountant, fund administrator, and transfer agent.

Editor's Note: A prior version of this story gave the wrong headcount for Cambiar. The firm has 42 employees. 

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