Channing Capital Management Launches First Publicly Traded Mutual Fund

One of the nation’s largest black-owned asset managers, Channing Capital Management has launched its first publicly traded mutual fund.

The new investment vehicle is called the Channing Intrinsic Value Small-Cap Fund (Ticker: OWLLX).

The investable universe is primarily domestic small capitalization stocks. The fund focuses on quality companies that the portfolio management team believes to be attractively valued, per a news release.

Channing reports it has built a solid 16-year track record for its flagship small-cap strategy within the institutional marketplace. The Chicago-based firm says it currently manages over $3.4 billion in total assets under management as of June 30, 2021. It was No. 10 on the most recent BE Asset Managers list. Established in 2003, the investment management boutique provides investment advisory services for institutional investors, its website shows.

Channing’s founder and co-CEO Rodney Herenton added this in a statement:

“The mutual fund provides both institutional and retail investors access to Channing’s small-cap strategy, enabling us to further diversify our distribution and channel mix. Furthermore, the mutual fund helps to strengthen our brand awareness and identification in the marketplace, something I’m very excited about as we continue to expand our product offerings and scale our business as a boutique investment firm.”

With approximately $2.2 billion in assets in the small-cap strategy, Channing declares it is looking to further expand its client base among corporations, foundations, and endowments , along with sub-advisory and platform opportunities.

Channing’s founder, co-CEO, and chief investment officer Wendell Mackey added this statement:

“The launch of our mutual fund allows us to bring our time tested, small company, distinctive, intrinsic value approach to a broader marketplace. We look forward to our mutual fund serving our clients, and prospective clients for their various channel needs.”

Herenton provided this email response to Black Enterprise on why his firm launched the mutual fund now based on how the stock market has performed this year:

“Institutional prospects have been asking us if we offer a public mutual fund as there has been interest from them in our small-cap value strategy. As long-term investors, we are less concerned about near-term market shocks and decided to launch our own fund to take advantage of the demand for small-cap capacity while also diversifying our channel mix.”