Products July 9, 2009

MainStay Adopts Epoch Funds

July 9, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - MainStay Investments has adopted four equity mutual funds managed by Epoch Investment Partners, Inc.
Reported by

Pending shareholder approval, these funds with over $750 million in assets will be reorganized as “MainStay Epoch” mutual funds in November 2009, according to a press release. In addition, MainStay Investments will become the primary distributor of Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) managed by Epoch.

Three of the funds have four-star ratings from Morningstar: Epoch Global Equity Shareholder Yield (EPSYX), Epoch International Small Cap (EPIEX) and Epoch US All Cap Equity (EPACX), the announcement said.   

Other enhancements made to the MainStay lineup include Epoch assuming management of several MainStay mutual funds as sub-adviser as well as the proposed consolidation of several other MainStay Funds to reduce overlap within the complex.

In addition, MainStay appointed industry veterans Robert DiMella and John Loffredo, who co-lead MacKay Shields’ recently acquired municipal bond team, to manage the MainStay Tax Free Bond Fund (MTBAX)  (see  MaKay Shields Agrees to Acquire Princeton Municipal Bond Unit ).

DiMella and Loffredo founded Mariner Municipal Managers LLC in 2007 upon leaving BlackRock, where they served as co-heads of BlackRock’s Municipal Portfolio Management Group.

More information is at www.nylim.com/mainstayfunds .

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