Fund Times: Vanguard Tries to Tame a Tiger

World stock fund  Vanguard Global Equity (VHGEX) is getting help. The family named U.K.-based asset manager Baillie Gifford as the fourth manager of this $6.8 billion fund. Veteran Charles Plowden will lead the effort. The team joins pre-existing subadvisors Acadian Asset Management, AllianceBernstein L.P., and Marathon Asset Management.

Vanguard also added Baillie Gifford's Scotland-based U.S. equities team, led by Mick Brewis, as the second subadvisor of  Vanguard Growth Equity . Previously, that fund's sole subadvisor was Turner Investment Partners.

These aren't Baillie Gifford's first Vanguard assignments. The firm's U.K. team, under James Anderson, has managed a portion of  Vanguard International Growth (VWIGX) since February 2003. The changes probably will impact Vanguard Growth Equity more than Global Equity because Baillie Gifford's more valuation-conscious, lower-turnover approach is almost the polar opposite of Turner's momentum-fueled, high-turnover method of growth investing. Depending on how much of the fund Baillie Gifford runs (Vanguard won't divulge that information), the firm could tame the notoriously volatile Growth Equity.

Wasatch Plans Global Equity Fund
Wasatch has plans to launch a Global Opportunities fund. The fund will invest in emerging- and developed-markets stocks, micro-caps, and companies with market caps over $5 billion, according to regulatory filings. The filing notes that Wasatch may invest as much as 50% of the portfolio in emerging-market stocks under the right market conditions.

This announcement comes on the heels of the Wasatch decision to reopen several small-cap funds, detailed in last week's Fund Times. It also follows proposals for new global funds from other families, including Dodge & Cox and Vanguard.

American Century Real Estate Manager Leaves Fund
Manager Scott Blasdell has left  American Century Real Estate (REACX). Blasdell was the leader of the fund's subadvisor team at J.P. Morgan Investment Management and will stay with that firm, but in a new (as yet undisclosed) role. Comanager Kay Herr will take over. Herr has been a J.P. Morgan employee since 1999 and a named comanager since 2007. This looks like a loss for shareholders. The fund's 16.4% gain during Blasdell's tenure from March 2002 to March 2008 beat the typical real estate's by 1 percentage point.

ING Replaces Emerging-Markets Fund's Subadvisor
Brandes Investment Partners is on its way out as subadvisor of ING Emerging Countries . At a recent ING Mutual Funds board meeting, the board voted to replace Brandes on an interim basis with ING's own ING Investment Management Advisors, beginning June 10. The board plans to approve IIMA as the fund's permanent manager at a meeting two weeks after that, pending shareholder approval.

We'd watch from the sidelines while IIMA tries to turn this diversified emerging-markets fund around. The Brandes team took over in March 2005 after the fund had failed to beat its typical rival several years in a row. On its watch, the fund rode a wave of investment in emerging-market stocks to post nice absolute returns but failed to break out of the category's basement through year-end 2007. However, the fund has held up better than most in the recent emerging markets selloff. Its 1.3% gain year to date through April 16, 2008, trounces 97% of its category rivals, and so now seems like an odd time for the firm to throw in the towel.

Three PIMCO Veterans to Retire
PIMCO Managing Directors John Brynjolfsson, Pasi Hamalainen, and Sudi Mariappa will retire during the next few months. According to PIMCO, each director's decision was made independently. During their tenures at PIMCO, all three directors were also portfolio managers. For example, Brynjolfsson recently stepped down as the leader of  PIMCO Real Return  and  PIMCO Commodity Real Return . Mariappa most recently managed  PIMCO Global Bond  and  PIMCO Foreign Bond  and their respective siblings that hedge currency risk.

The number of manager changes at PIMCO is noteworthy, but, generally speaking, PIMCO funds have handled manager changes well. The new managers typically don't make big changes to the funds, and they get help from the same massive PIMCO research team.