Fund Times: Veteran Manager to Leave Janus

Janus is losing a star manager. Scott Schoelzel, a 14-year veteran of the Denver firm, will retire at the end of 2007. He has managed two large-growth funds,  Janus Twenty  and Janus Aspen Forty (JACAX), since mid-1997. He also manages several institutional accounts. Through Aug. 29, 2007, Janus Twenty's 10-year annualized return of 7.9% tops 92% of rivals. Schoelzel's record at Janus Aspen Forty is slightly better.

Clearly, Schoelzel's departure will be a loss for shareholders. But it's bad news for another reason. Janus has had difficulty in recent years retaining its longer-tenured managers, and this departure continues the trend.

Another Trendy Fund Launch Goes Awry
Woe to investors who purchased Forward Long/Short Credit  at its inception in late 2006. Luckily, the fund's $10 million asset base means most avoided it. This explicitly hedge-fund-like portfolio trades debt--both long and short--and leverages its asset base a threefold amount. It has struggled, losing 15.6% in just eight months. That's good enough for last place out of 51 multisector-bond offerings.

Entering 2007, credit spreads were reaching historic lows in many debt classes. In other words, bonds were as expensive as they'd ever been. Then, volatility hit the markets and Forward Long/Short Credit subadvisor Cedar Ridge Partners noted increased opportunities as it attributed volatility to headline chasing, not credit deterioration. But to Cedar Ridge's chagrin, subprime mortgage news kept getting worse and technical factors drove pricing more than credit analysis did. In fact, much of the fund's year-to-date loss came in the past four weeks, as investor worries about subprime mortgage bonds rippled through non-mortgage markets as well. This is fund is another example of the time-tested lesson that launching an offering based on what's been hot lately is usually a bad idea.

American Century Slow to Share Important Information
American Century was embarrassed this week after Ignites reported that a manager on one of its prominent funds, Kurt Stalzer, has been out on sick leave for about four months, with no announcement to shareholders. There's no word yet on when he'll return. Stalzer is the longest-tenured manager on the three-person team running mid-growth fund  American Century Heritage (TWHIX). American Century failed to disclose his absence, highlighting the difficult balancing act of respecting both managers' personal lives and shareholders' rights to information. The company has since confirmed the report and submitted appropriate filings to the SEC.

Nuveen Adds Subadvisors on Large-Cap Fund
HydePark Investment Strategies and Symphony Asset Management are joining Institutional Capital (ICAP) as subadvisors to  Nuveen Large-Cap Value . ICAP has subadvised this broker-sold offering since 1996, and its team will still manage a sleeve of assets here. Nuveen has also scheduled a shareholder meeting in October to gain approval for changes to the fund's mandate. Symphony manages market-neutral equity and debt strategies and HydePark manages quantitatively driven portfolios. So, Nuveen seeks an expanded mandate to diversify strategies within the portfolio.

Changes Continue at Delaware's Bond Fund Lineup
 Delaware Diversified Income (DPDFX) is the latest fund to be impacted by recent churn within Delaware's fixed-income division. Earlier this year a number of Delaware's taxable fixed-income managers and analysts left Delaware for Logan Circle Partners, a new outfit founded by Delaware's ex-CEO Jude Driscoll. The fallout from this event continues. This week, four new managers--Wen-Dar Chen, Thomas Chow, Kevin Loome, and Victor Mostrowski--joined Philip Perkins and Roger Early on the team that leads Diversified Income. Perkins and Early have been on board since 2004 and 1997, respectively. Other funds that have seen manager changes recently include  Delaware Delchester  and  Delaware Dividend Income (DDIAX).