Metropolitan West Unconstrained Bd I MWCIX

TCW has announced big changes to its fixed income management ranks, the most significant of which are that generalist portfolio managers Laird Landmann and Stephen Kane will retire at the end of 2023 and 2024, respectively. As Landmann and Kane help oversee the majority of TCW’s $210 billion in assets under management, Morningstar has placed their strategies Under Review: Metropolitan West Total Return, TCW Core Fixed Income, Metropolitan West Low Duration Bond, and Metropolitan West Unconstrained Bond. It will be hard to replace their expertise and shared experience, which dates to the early 1990s. Landmann and Kane both started at Pimco, moved on to Hotchkis & Wiley, and in 1996 were co-founders of Metropolitan West Asset Management, which TCW acquired in late 2009. Their team was named Morningstar Fixed Income Fund Manager of 2005 and has been nominated many times since. This dual retirement announcement is not the firm’s only recent brush with major leadership changes. Former CIO Tad Rivelle retired at the end of 2021, while former CEO David Lippman followed him one year later. Stephen Kane and Bryan Whalen inherited Rivelle’s mantle as co-CIOs, while Katie Koch joined in February 2023 to replace David Lippman as CEO. As part of the most recent announcement, Kane will give up his co-CIO title at the end of 2023 but remain as a generalist portfolio manager through 2024. Those earlier departures, particularly Rivelle’s, were unexpected and set off a domino effect that can be seen today. It’s clear that the firm is making room for the next generation of fixed-income leaders. In addition to Landmann and Kane’s future retirements, TCW also announced a slew of promotions that take effect immediately. Ruben Hovhannisyan and Jerry Cudzil are now generalist portfolio managers. Hovhannisyan has worked closely with Landmann, Kane, and Whalen, while Jerry Cudzil has served as co-head of global credit and head of credit trading. Meanwhile, Steve Purdy, co-head of global credit and head of credit research, has joined the management team of Metropolitan West Unconstrained Bond. Four other senior research professionals have been promoted to senior portfolio manager (a newly created role) and will form a U.S. fixed-income investment committee. It’s not yet clear how this new committee will work with or supplement the generalists, as they have historically set risk budgets and outlooks, work that is often done by committees at competing firms.