Longtime Manager Out at Dreman High Return Equity

David Dreman, who has managed  DWS Dreman High Return Equity (KDHAX) since its 1988 inception, and his firm, Dreman Value Management, are being fired from the fund as of June 1, 2009. Dreman and company will be replaced by a team from DWS' office in Frankfurt, Germany, led by Volker Dosch, Oliver Pfeil, and Thomas Schuessler, and the fund will be renamed DWS Strategic Value. Schuessler has managed  DWS Large Cap Value  since February 2007.

Dreman Value Management, which also subadvises  DWS Dreman Small Cap Value  and Dreman Mid Cap Value (MIDTX), will be retained on those funds. (Another charge, the tiny DWS Dreman Concentrated Value , will be liquidated.) Dreman and company, after posting so-so returns in 2006 and 2007, had struggled mightily in 2008 and early 2009 due to their poor picks in financials and a hefty weighting in energy stocks. The fund's five-year return lands in the large-value category's basement, and it looks subpar over 10 years (though its record over 15 years and since the fund's inception is still solid). Look for our new analysis of High Return Equity later this week.