News
April 22, 2007
PITTSBURGH and NEW YORK, April 23 -- Federated Investors, Inc., one of the nation's largest investment managers, reached a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of Rochdale Investment Management LLC that relate to the management of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio, a $321 million mutual fund that invests in international stocks. J. Christopher Donahue, president and chief executive officer of Federated, and Carl Acebes, chairman of Rochdale Investment Management LLC, announced the agreement. As part of the agreement, it is expected that the assets of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio will be transitioned into the new Federated InterContinental Fund, which will continue the investment operations of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio.
The Rochdale Atlas Portfolio has an overall 5-star Morningstar Rating among the 546 foreign large-blend funds in Morningstar's Foreign Large-Blend Category for the period ended March 31, 2007. Morningstar ratings are based on risk-adjusted total return. The overall rating is derived from a weighted average of the fund's 3-, 5- and 10-year average annual returns, as applicable.
Based on total return, the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio has outperformed its Lipper International Multi-Cap Core Category average for the 1-, 3- and 5-year periods as of March 31, 2007, where it ranked in the 13th, third and sixth percentiles of its Lipper category, respectively. For the periods ended March 31, 2007, the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio ranked 44 out of 344 funds for 1 year; 6 out of 258 for 3 years; and 11 out of 206 for 5 years.
"The strength of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio's historical performance illustrates the ability of its management team to navigate international markets through a variety of economic conditions," said J. Christopher Donahue. "The unique country-specific investment approach makes Rochdale Atlas Portfolio an ideal opportunity for Federated to expand our international equity product line."
"Rochdale chose to enter into this strategic transaction because it fits well with the three tenets of our firm: integrity, intelligence and innovation in investment management," said Carl Acebes. "After the transaction closes, Rochdale's clients holding shares of the new Federated InterContinental Fund will have access to Federated's significant global resources, which is increasingly important given the evolving complexities of the international investing environment. In transitioning the portfolio, we are pleased that our clients may continue to have access to the unique country allocation process and investment intelligence that Rochdale developed over the past decade."
The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007. As a part of the agreement, Federated will acquire Rochdale 's proprietary quantitative investment model used to manage the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio. Current management team members, Audrey H. Kaplan and Geoffrey Pazzanese, will join Federated and serve as co-managers of the Federated InterContinental Fund, which will continue the investment operations of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio. The Rochdale Atlas Portfolio invests in companies in foreign markets, both developed and emerging, believed to have favorable macroeconomic outlooks where markets are likely to outperform relative to the world based on fundamental valuation and financial and economic attributes. The quantitative model is used to strive to select countries for investment that have rising earnings expectations, lower valuation relative to growth, favorable interest rate environments and positive technical factors.
Kaplan serves as portfolio manager and senior vice president-quantitative research at Rochdale. She has more than 18 years experience in the industry, including European quantitative strategy for Merrill Lynch in London, global emerging markets research with Robert Fleming in London and equity, fixed- income and derivative analysis with Salomon Brothers in Tokyo and New York. Pazzanese, with seven years of industry experience, serves as senior quantitative analyst of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio. His previous experience includes working on the sell side with the international quantitative strategy group at Merrill Lynch and with the Italian engineering firm AXIS S.p.A. in Florence, Italy, as a sales and marketing manager.
The transaction has been approved by the Board of Directors of Federated Investors, Inc. The Federated Mutual Fund Board of Trustees and the Rochdale Investment Trust Board of Trustees have both approved the reorganization of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio into the Federated InterContinental Fund, which will be a new shell portfolio created for the purpose of continuing the investment operations of Rochdale Atlas Portfolio as part of the Federated fund complex. The Rochdale Board of Trustees will be seeking the vote of Rochdale Atlas Portfolio shareholders to reorganize the fund into the new Federated InterContinental Fund. The reorganization is subject to the approval of the Rochdale Atlas Portfolio shareholders.
Federated Investors, Inc. is one of the largest investment managers in the United States, managing $237.4 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2006. With 148 mutual funds and a variety of separately managed account options, Federated provides comprehensive investment management to more than 5,400 institutions and intermediaries including corporations, government entities, insurance companies, foundations and endowments, banks and broker/dealers.
Rochdale Investment Management LLC is a private investment counseling firm specializing in intelligently personalized portfolio management for high net worth individuals. Based in New York City with offices nationwide, Rochdale manages $2.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2007. Working in concert with each client's financial advisor or CPA, Rochdale develops and manages a customized portfolio for each client. Investment strategies are implemented through proprietary separate accounts and funds. The firm's hallmark is providing integrity, intelligence and innovation in investment management.
Preceding press release obtained from Federated Investors at www.federatedinvestors.com. Berkshire Capital has reprinted this press release substantially in its entirety.
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