Fund Times: Management Changes at MFS and Longleaf

MFS announced a management shakeup late Tuesday in a renewed effort to jump-start performance at some of its lagging growth funds.

At flagship  MFS Massachusetts Investors Growth Stock (MIGFX), relative newcomer Greg Locraft has been replaced by Maureen Pettirossi, who has been an analyst at the firm since 2002, covering retail and business services. Pettirossi will work with veterans Irfan Ali and Stephen Pesek to collectively pick stocks for this fund. (Previously three managers ran this fund's assets in independent sleeves.) The new management structure will likely lead to a more concentrated portfolio that should behave less like the typical large-growth offering.

Pettirossi has also replaced Locraft at  MFS Institutional Large-Cap Growth , which is comanaged by Margaret Adams, Pesek, and Ali. Ali and Pettirossi will also work together to run  MFS Growth Opportunities , a large-growth offering that used to be run by Locraft.

Meanwhile, Ali has moved off of two funds he previously managed,  MFS Strategic Growth  and  MFS Capital Opportunities . Eric Fischman will now run MFS Strategic Growth, an aggressive large-growth fund that Fischman plans to run with a more concentrated, less price-sensitive strategy than Ali used. Fischman also remains a comanager of  MFS Emerging Growth (MFEGX), an all-cap aggressive-growth fund that he has run with David Sette-Ducati since 2002. Fischman has been dropped from  MFS Mid-Cap Growth (OTCAX), however, and the mid-growth fund will be run by Sette-Ducati and David Earnest, who has been promoted from analyst, a position he began at MFS in 2002.

MFS Capital Opportunities, the large-blend offering previously run by Ali, Kenneth Enright, and Alan Langsner, is now run by Locraft. Working alongside Locraft is Jeffrey Constantino, who has been promoted from analyst. Previously this fund was a combination of Enright and Langsner's other charge,  MFS Strategic Value , and Ali's MFS Strategic Growth. Under Locraft and Constantino, however, the fund will be managed collectively by the two skippers in a multi-cap, go-anywhere style.

Finally, MFS also announced that Rob Manning, the firm's chief executive and chief investment officer, will directly oversee the firm's growth fund managers. The value and blend portfolio managers will report to David Antonelli, MFS' equities chief and head of research. Deborah Miller, director of quantitative equity research, will remain in charge of the firm's quantitative and associate portfolio managers.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back into the Water…
On December 2, 2005, Ameriprise Financial announced a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over market-timing at some of its funds that took place between January 2002 and August 2003. Though the $15 million fine the firm will pay is quite a bit less than Janus' $225 million levy or Federated's $100 million charge, we think this breach of trust is important to highlight.

Longleaf Manager Sees the Light, Columbia Acorn Skipper Departs
Longleaf Partners Funds' advisor, Southeastern Asset Management, has announced the departure of John Buford, who will begin a three-year graduate study program at the Memphis Theological Seminary in 2006.

In other departures, Todd Narter, comanager of  Columbia Acorn International Select (ACFFX), has left the firm, leaving Chris Olson as the sole manager. The fund's analyst staff has significantly more responsibility over stock selection in their areas of expertise than is normally the case, so this departure should be manageable for Olson.

As Managers Depart, So Do Fund Companies
Patrick Adams, who began Choice Investment Management in 1999, has decided to close shop on his mutual fund operations and go into the hedge fund business. He has announced the closure of his Choice Focus , Choice Market Neutral, , and Choice Long-Short  funds, none of which had respectable records.

Enjoy a Snack, But Skip This ETF
Finally, the all-too-narrowly focused PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage (PBJ) exchange-traded fund is now available to investors. While it is likely to be of little use to most investors, we recently chuckled after noticing its ticker: PB and J.