27 May 2020
London, United Kingdom. Artisan Partners announced today that the Artisan Thematic Fund, an Ireland domiciled UCITS Fund which launched on 6 December 2018, is in the process of being renamed the Artisan US Focus Fund. The Fund is managed by the Artisan Partners Thematic Team, led by portfolio manager Chris Smith, who joined Artisan Partners in October 2016 to found the team. Chris has a wealth of experience in managing focused long and long/short portfolios and, since the team’s inception, has built a highly capable and talented group of investors. The US Focus Fund is managed in line with the Artisan Thematic Strategy which launched on 1 May 2017 and is celebrating its three-year anniversary.
The new name highlights the team’s dedicated focus on its process. Mr. Smith explained, “We believe the new name better reflects our existing approach to idea generation and bottom-up investing.” Regarding the three-year anniversary, Mr. Smith also noted, ”Since its launch, we have established a strong record of creating value and delivering quality performance results.”
Artisan Partners CEO, Eric Colson, added, “The team’s anniversary is a fitting time to shift to a name that better suits the team’s process and focus. Chris and his team take a unique approach to thematic idea generation. While themes are certainly a key component of their philosophy, they aren’t its defining feature. Chris’s decision to change the fund’s name should allow him to better represent his team’s overarching goal—which is focused on identifying inflection points in multiyear trends that are often misunderstood by the markets.”
As of 30 April 2020, 20% of Artisan Partners’ $106.8bn in AUM was sourced from clients outside the US, including $3.4bn in its UCITS fund complex domiciled in Ireland.
Investment Risks: A non-diversified portfolio may invest a larger portion of assets in securities of a smaller number of issuers and performance of a single issuer may affect overall portfolio performance greater than in a diversified portfolio. The portfolio’s use of derivative instruments may create additional leverage and involve risks different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in more traditional investments. High portfolio turnover may adversely affect returns due to increased transaction costs and creation of additional tax consequences. Securities of small- and medium-sized companies tend to have a shorter history of operations, be more volatile and less liquid and may have underperformed securities of large companies during some periods. International investments involve special risks, including currency fluctuation, lower liquidity, different accounting methods and economic and political systems, and higher transaction costs. These risks typically are greater in emerging markets. Investments will rise and fall with market fluctuations and investor capital is at risk. Investors investing in funds denominated in non-local currency should be aware of the risk of currency exchange fluctuations that may cause a loss of principal. These risks, among others, are further described in the fund’s offering documents.
