OppenheimerFunds has introduced its first three mutual funds to be subadvised by Trinity Investment Management, the institutional asset manager that Oppenheimer bought this year.
The Trinity Core, Value, and Growth funds will give investors more style-specific offerings, a characteristic that is aimed at those using asset-allocation models.
"Creating funds with Trinity for that reason makes a lot of sense," said Geoffrey H. Bobroff, a mutual fund consultant in East Greenwich, R.I. "The general thesis of the organization is not to be as focused on style."
Oppenheimer executives were not available to comment on the new funds.
The core fund invests in selected S&P 500 stocks, using a value stock selection approach. The value fund invests in stocks in the S&P 500/Barra value index. The growth fund invests in stocks in the S&P 500/Barra growth index.
A team that includes Trinity's president and chief investment officer, Blake Gall, and the portfolio managers Miguel de Braganca, Daniel Burke, and Jennifer Kosmo manages the funds. Trinity is managed independently under the Oppenheimer umbrella.
"Trinity's portfolio managers execute the disciplined, methodological approach demanded by institutional investors to produce 'pure' funds that do not drift from their defined asset classes," Len Darling, Oppenheimer's chief investment officer and head of the company's institutional asset management arm, said in a press release.
In December, Oppenheimer agreed to buy Trinity, an institutional asset management boutique with $8.2 billion of assets under management. It paid an undisclosed sum for the Bellafonte, Pa.-based company.
Oppenheimer uses fundamental research to pick stocks; Trinity uses a quantitative approach.
Oppenheimer has $110 billion of assets under management and is one of the biggest fund sellers through banks. It had bank sales of $3.1 billion last year and expects that number will increase to $3.8 billion this year.
