Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Print
April 02, 2007 01:00 AM

Wilshire ready to put its name on 2 new mutual fund offerings

By Raquel Pichardo
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Lawrence Davanzo said Wilshire wants to offer more investment products with its name.

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Wilshire Funds Management officials want the institutional fund manager to become a household name.

    The asset management arm of Wilshire Associates Inc. plans to introduce two mutual fund offerings — a 130/30 fund and a target maturity fund — both branded under the Wilshire name. This is a departure for the firm, which has 90% of its $23.5 billion in assets managed under private labels.

    There is a push within the firm to offer more investment products under the Wilshire name, particularly with mutual funds that offer absolute-return type strategies, said Lawrence E. Davanzo, senior managing director at the Santa Monica-based firm.

    Wilshire Associates has evolved from a pure consulting firm to an investment manager in the retail and institutional markets. To date, about 10% of the funds management group’s assets under management are branded under the Wilshire name in the form of mutual funds or variable insurance trusts. “The target is significantly over 10%,” said Mr. Davanzo, declining to give a more specific goal. As of Dec. 31, some $20.7 billion of the firm’s assets under management came from institutional clients, with the rest from the retail and high-net-worth markets.

    Sold through intermediaries

    Like all assets under the funds management group, the new funds will be sold through financial intermediaries such as insurance companies or registered investment advisers. Its distributors include Janus Capital Group, Denver; Lincoln Financial Group, Philadelphia; AGF, Toronto; and Standard Life Investments Ltd., Edinburgh.

    For the new mutual funds, Wilshire will tap managers it has already been tracking through its manager research group.

    Wilshire expects to launch the 130/30 fund in the third quarter, although some details — such as a fee structure or exactly which managers will be pooled in the offering — has yet to be determined. The funds will offer both institutional and retail sales.

    A 130/30 manager is typically allowed to go long up to 130% of a mandate and short up to 30%. A slew of investment vehicles have come onto the marketplace in recent months but have been limited mainly to offerings for institutional investors.

    “Most of these strategies have mainly been for ultra-high-net-worth or institutional investors, and the retail investor has not had access,” Mr. Davanzo said. “So (retail investors) are looking for ways to get returns in a low-return environment.”

    The target maturity fund is still in its nascent stage but will eventually take an investor beyond his or her retirement date and manage assets in the post-retirement stage, said Mr. Davanzo. It will likely include allocations to exchange-traded funds.

    The funds management group already offers five mutual funds under the Wilshire name — Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, small-cap value, small-cap growth, large-cap value and large cap-growth. All funds offer retail and institutional share classes.

    But one industry executive questions if there is room to grow a retail business in an already saturated environment. Beyond that, “in the case of mutual funds, being able to short is already being used, and 130/30 is easily replicable,” said the executive, who requested anonymity.

    Retail help

    The growth of Wilshire’s indexes is likely to help its efforts in the retail sector, where name recognition has greater pull than with institutional clients. The firm created the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index in 1974 but has spent the past five years making a concerted effort to market the brand, said spokeswoman Kim Shepherd.

    In the nearly two and a half years since Mr. Davanzo has rejoined the firm — he founded Wilshire’s consulting unit in 1980 but left in 1991 — the funds management group’s assets under management have grown to $20 billion from $7 billion. Most of that came from asset allocation funds in the long-only sector, along with single asset class multimanager portfolios sold to financial intermediaries.

    Wilshire is not the first consulting firm to move to the money management side.

    Russell Investment Group, Tacoma, Wash., began consulting to pension funds in 1969 and by 1980 had landed in the investment management industry.

    Unlike Wilshire, the Russell indexes were created after the firm had already entered the money management business. Still, the indexes help boost the firm’s $200 billion commingled and manager-of-managers funds, said David Grieger, chief marketing officer at Russell.

    “Indirectly, it helps,” said Mr. Grieger, of the indexes. “It depends on the audience. If you’re in the industry, people know us as an investment shop. On the retail side, that’s where the index comes in,” he said.

    Recommended for You
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Read the print edition of P&I
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    OCIO, Anchor in Rough Seas
    Sponsored Content: OCIO, Anchor in Rough Seas

    Reader Poll

    May 23, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Crossroads: Politics, Inflation, & Bonds
    Credit Indices: Closing the Fixed Income Evolutionary Gap
    Forever in Style: Benchmarking with the Morningstar® Broad Style Indexes℠
    Q2 2022 Credit Outlook: Carry On
    Leverage does not equal risk
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    May 23, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Innovation Investing Conference
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
      • 2022 Alternatives Investing Conference