Investing February 3, 2005

Two Mutual Fund Launches Top $1 Billion in 2004

February 3, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Only two mutual fund product launches captured assets in excess of $1 billion in 2004, according to a summary of fund launches by the Financial Research Corporation (FRC).
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One of these mutual funds was an exchange-traded fund, StreetTRACKS Gold by State Street Global Advisors, pulling in $1.38 billion on the year. The other was Grantham, Mayo, and Van Otterloo’s GMO US Quality Equity, which pulled in $1.21 billion on the year.

Although the average new fund ended the year with $73 million in assets, this number is skewed by a few larger funds. Compared to the average, the median fund had assets of only $24 million.

ETFs still seem to have more than their share of assets. Only 17% of funds launched in 2004 were ETFs, but these funds accounted for 26% of assets under management.

Bank Loan products also saw a slight revival on the year, with Bank Loan funds capturing net sales of $8.9 billion n 2004. Three of these product launches captured net flows of over $600 million on the year, according to FRC.

By category, the most heavily developed fund type in 2004 was large blend (with 11% of funds launched fitting this category), followed by moderate allocation (10%), large growth (8%), and large value (7%).

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