Legg Mason, a global asset management firm, has re-branded and consolidated its retail-oriented fund families into one Legg Mason branded fund family. The new naming convention is effective from October 5, 2009.
Reportedly, most funds that were formerly named Legg Mason or Legg Mason Partners will now include the Legg Mason name, the name of the investment affiliate and the fund’s strategy (such as the Legg Mason ClearBridge Appreciation Fund or the Legg Mason Western Asset Managed Municipals Fund). This includes the variable portfolios that will be re-branded on November 2, 2009. However, the Western Asset fund family, designed for institutional share classes, and the Royce fund family, which has share classes that are sold directly to investors, and the Barrett fund family will retain separate branding.
According to the Legg Mason, the re-branding follows the completion of a consolidated operating platform for the fund families. The company has said that the effort, completed in the spring of 2009, allowed investors to exchange products across both fund families and to aggregate purchases within a menu of funds to reduce sales charges on new purchases.
Matt Schiffman, head of retail, The Americas, at Legg Mason, said: “We believe that the new naming convention will both leverage the Legg Mason brand awareness with our retail partners and create more awareness of the value that is provided by our multi-affiliate investment approach. Our investment affiliates are well known within their respective institutional channels for their investment expertise, and we see this as a significant opportunity to leverage that with our retail partners.”
