Products July 31, 2006

Morgan Stanley Kicks Off New Institutional Fund Trust Portfolio

July 31, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) is offering a fund portfolio that is meant to afford institutional investors the ability to more closely match the duration of pension plan assets and liabilities.
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MSIM’s Long Duration strategy seeks to provide investors with an above average total return over a market cycle of three to five years, the company said.

To help achieve its objectives, the fund will invest primarily in a diversified mix of dollar-denominated investment grade fixed income issues, particularly US government, corporate and mortgage-backed securities. In building the fund’s portfolio, the team will utilize the same research-intensive value approach that it employs for all fixed income portfolios, according to a news release.

The portfolio will be managed by W. David Armstrong and David Horowitz, who head up MSIM’s Long Duration investment team. The team is comprised of 58 investment specialists, with a focus on research in credit, global bonds, mortgage-backed securities and interest rate analysis, the company said.

“The potential benefit of a Long Duration portfolio is that investors can position themselves further out on the yield curve than they can with Core and Core Plus portfolios,” said Horowitz.

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