Vanguard changes fund management

Vanguard announced Monday that ClearBridge Investments LLC will join its roster of investment advisory firms to manage a portion of the $11.9 billion Vanguard Explorer Fund. Vanguard also announced that Granahan Investment Management Inc. and Kalmar Investment Advisers will no longer serve as advisors to the fund.

Headquartered in New York City, ClearBridge is a global investment management firm with a legacy dating back to 1962. The firm’s seven-member small/mid-cap team functions as a highly collaborative unit, combining the best of sector specialties and broad-based investment management expertise.

The team’s investment strategy focuses on identifying companies that are category leaders or have potential to become category leaders, and display capital allocation discipline aimed at fueling long-term, sustainable growth.

Jeffrey Russell, CFA; Derek Deutsch, CFA; Brian Angerame; and Aram Green, with a collective 90 years of investment management experience, will serve as portfolio managers to the Explorer Fund.

They are supported by three small/mid-cap analysts and also benefit from the firm’s broader investment resources, including a 12-member central research function.

“The investment professionals in Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department continuously scour the globe for top-tier talent to enrich our active management capabilities,” said Bill McNabb, CEO of the mutual fund company.

“The addition of ClearBridge’s experience and expertise, particularly in the small and mid-cap market segments, brings further depth to the fund and to our diverse active management roster.”