One of our favorite no-load mutual funds is planning to close to new investors soon.
BBH Core Select (symbol BBTEX), a member of the Kiplinger 25, will close to new investors soon. The fund's sponsor, Brown Brothers Harriman, announced on October 17 that the large-company stock fund will shut when assets hit $3.5 billion. The fund currently holds about $3.3 billion in assets.
No doubt investors were drawn by the fund's stellar track record, both long- and short-term. Over the past ten years, Core Select returned 9.5% annualized, beating Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by an average of 2.0 percentage points per year. Year-to-date, the fund returned 19.3%, topping the index by 1.6 points (results are through October 16).
Core Select has been "blessed with inflows of late," co-manager Michael Keller, who runs the fund with Richard Witmer and Tim Hartch, said recently. Indeed, fund tracker Morningstar estimates that this year through the end of September, Core Select took in a whopping $1.75 billion more than investors pulled out.
If you're interested in investing in BBH Core Select, you'd better act fast. As long as the overall stock market is behaving itself, it probably won't take long for the fund to reach the $3.5 billion trigger for closing. Meanwhile, we'll be looking for a fund with which to replace Core Select in the Kip 25. Stay tuned.