Eagle Investment Grade Bond Fund Launched

Eagle Asset Management's Eagle Investment Grade Bond Fund opened to investors March 1.

Modeled on Eagle’s established High Quality Taxable fixed-income separately managed accounts (SMA) portfolio, the Investment Grade Bond Fund seeks the capital preservation and portfolio stability that are fundamental to a conservatively managed fund, according to the firm. The new fund will generally invest in individual intermediate- and short-term securities that the portfolio managers believe offer returns similar to longer duration bonds with considerably less risk.

The benchmark for the Eagle Investment Grade Bond Fund is Barclays Capital Intermediate Government/Credit Index. The net expense ratio is estimated to be 0.85% for Class A shares, and share class pricing options are also available to serve the retirement-plan markets and for individual investors who meet certain eligibility requirements, the firm said.

In addition to the Class A share class (EGBAX), the Eagle Investment Grade Bond Fund is available in the following share classes: C (EBBCX), I (EGBLX), R-3 (ECBRX) and R-5 (EGBTX) shares. Eagle will market the new share classes through financial advisers and planners at broker/dealers, investment consulting firms, and defined contribution investment-only specialists.

The fund is co-managed by James Camp Joe Jackson.


More information is available at www.eagleasset.com.

ACR Taps Grayson as COO

ACR-Alpine Capital Research has hired industry veteran Darryl S. Grayson as chief operating officer and national marketing director.

According to an announcement, Grayson will oversee the firm’s marketing and sales efforts to the financial intermediary and institutional channels, and will expand the firm’s distribution relationships with national and regional brokerage firms, independent financial advisers, and registered investment advisers. He will also target retirement plan sponsors, consultants, foundations, endowments, and the pension fund community.

He joins ACR from Wilmington Trust, where he was director of External Distribution for the firm’s asset management division, which oversaw $35 billion in assets under management. He was responsible for relationship management, sales, and product distribution for the Wilmington Funds and SMA strategies.

Previously, he was SVP and national sales manager for Gabelli Asset Management, where he directed the distribution activities of the $11-billion mutual fund complex. He has also held sales executive positions at Delaware Investments, Bankers Trust, and OppenheimerFunds, according to the announcement.

ACR is a division of asset management firm Alpine Investment Management, LLC.

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