Dassault Systemes Americas Corp., Waltham, Mass., added three investment options to its 401(k) plan, a presentation on the plan’s website said.
The changes were effective Sept. 1. The plan switched its target-date fund manager to T. Rowe Price from Fidelity Investments, because while Fidelity’s “performance has not been hugely lagging, it has also not been exceptional” and that “relative to other target-date funds with a similar glidepath design,” others “performed better,” the presentation said. The amount of assets in the Fidelity lineup could not be learned by press time. Michael Shamrell, Fidelity spokesman, said the firm does not generally comment on client actions.
Also, the plan added the American Beacon Mid Cap Value institutional fund, replacing Heartland Advisors’ Select Value institutional fund, a domestic equity value fund. The presentation said that the Heartland fund’s “deep value strategy and an overweight to larger cap stocks have caused the fund to lag relative to its peers” as a reason for the change. The amount of assets in the Heartland fund could not be learned by press time. Dave Ribbens, Heartland Advisors executive vice president and head of distribution, said he could not speak to Dassault’s decision.
The plan also added the Wells Fargo Advantage Discovery fund, a domestic small- and midcap growth fund, which replaces the BlackRock U.S. Opportunities institutional fund. The presentation cited performance issues with the BlackRock fund along with personnel changes. The fund managed $19.9 million for Dassault as of Dec. 31, 2012, according to the company’s most recent Form 5500 filing. Katharine Ewert, BlackRock spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Also, the plan removed the Thornburg International Value equity fund. Participants in the fund are being mapped to the Fidelity Investments’ Spartan International index fund, an existing fund in the lineup.
The presentation cited that Thornburg’s performance has seen a noticeable decline in the past three years and “performance does not appear to be improving.” The fund had $18.2 million in Dassault assets as of Dec. 31, 2012, according to the company’s most recent Form 5500 filing. Rebecca Carrier, Thornburg spokeswoman, said the company does not comment on client decisions.
As of Dec. 31, 2012, the Dassault Systemes Employee Savings Plan Plus had $353 million in assets, according to the company’s most recent Form 5500 filing.
Colin Murphy, Dassault Systemes’ manager, human resources, did not return a phone call by press time.
