Ex-Marsico Manager Jim Hillary Resurfaces

Jim Hillary, who left Marsico Capital Management in 2004 to start his own investment-management company, has resurfaced. His firm, Independence Capital Asset Partners, LLC, will be the subadvisor for the new long-short fund LS Opportunity.

Hillary previously comanaged Marsico Focus MFOCX and Marsico Growth MGRIX with fund-company founder and veteran portfolio manager Tom Marsico. Before that, Hillary had run Marsico 21st Century MXXIX, a large-growth fund that invested heavily in mid-cap stocks, since its June 2000 inception.

His new fund's prospectus gives Hillary considerable latitude to invest in domestic and international securities as well as various fixed-income instruments. The fund will initially charge an expense ratio of 2.50%.

Vanguard Launches New Actively Managed Fund
On March 16, Vanguard added its 32nd actively managed stock fund: Vanguard Explorer Value VEVFX.

The fund, which Vanguard announced late last year, is Vanguard's only actively managed value fund that invests in small- to mid-cap companies.

Investors can invest in the fund during a two-week subscription period that is expected to end March 30. During this period, the fund will invest in money market instruments rather than follow its normal investment policies.

Managed by three outside subadvisors, the fund is expected to hold a portfolio of fewer than 200 securities as it seeks to outpace its Russell 2500 Value Index benchmark index.

The fund's expense ratio of 0.59% puts it in the bottom quintile of fees for no-load small-cap funds and well below the median fee of 1.20%.