Frost Investment Advisors' Total Return Bond Fund Tops $500 Million - More Than Doubling Assets Under Management in Less Than 3 Years

SAN ANTONIO, May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost Investment Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser, today announced that its Total Return Bond Fund (FIJEX) has surpassed $500 million in assets under management, more than doubling since its launch in 2008. As of April 30, the fund ranked in the top 5th percentile among more than 1,000 similar funds during the three-year period and in the top 6th percentile year to date, according to Morningstar.

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The Total Return Bond Fund has returned 9.8 percent on an annualized basis through 4/30/11 since its launch on April 25, 2008, outpacing the one-year and three-year average performance for the Barclay's Capital US Aggregate Bond Index, the Fund's benchmark, of 5.36% and 5.81% respectively. The Total Return Bond Fund is one of 14 Frost Investment Advisors funds serving both institutional and retail clients. The entire fund family also recently celebrated a milestone, reaching $2.5 billion at the end of April 2011 ($2.4 billion as of March 31, 2011) in total mutual fund assets. For the same period, total assets under management for the adviser have increased to more than $7.8 billion.

"We commend Jeffery Elswick and the entire fixed income team for reaching such an impressive milestone so quickly after we launched the Frost Total Return Bond Fund," said Tom Stringfellow, president of Frost Investment Advisors. "The success of this fund underscores the experience and strategic management by the fixed income team."

Frost Investment Advisors started offering registered mutual funds in April 2008, initially to serve the needs of institutional clients, and expanding to offer retail shares in June 2008.  The firm now provides investment advisory services to a broad range of institutional clients in addition to their work with their 14 mutual fund strategies.  The funds are available on a variety of well-known institutional and brokerage platforms, with institutional and retail shares available.

Recent accomplishments and performance metrics include:

• Three of the Frost Funds (Institutional and Retail Share Classes) received a Five-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™ as of March 31, 2011, with five (Institutional and Retail Share Classes) receiving a Four-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™ for the same period.
• Recognized by Barron's as one of the Best Mutual Fund Families in its February 1, 2010 and February 7, 2011 issues.
• As of March 31, 2011 overall growth in market value of all Frost Funds increased 24 percent during the last 12 months.
• Share count across all funds increased to 238,683,331 as of March 31, 2011.
• According to Morningstar, three of the four rated Frost bond funds (Institutional Share Class) are in the top quartile of peer group managers over a five-year period, as of March 31, 2011.
• According to Morningstar, the Frost Dividend Value Equity Fund (Institutional and Retail Share Classes), the Frost International Equity Fund (Institutional and Retail Share Classes) and the Frost Total Return Fund (Institutional Share Class) are in the top decile over a five-year period when compared to peer groups of similar strategies, as of March 31, 2011.

The investment team, which has been managing some of the proprietary strategies since 1981 as employees of Frost, includes a staff of more than 50 investment professionals in the main office in San Antonio, and other office locations in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.

About Frost Investment Advisors, LLC

Frost Investment Advisors, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE:CFR), one of the oldest and largest Texas-based banking organizations, offers a family of mutual funds to institutional and retail investors. The company has offered institutional shares since April 28, 2008, with retail shares available since June 2008.

The family of funds managed by Frost Investment Advisors provides clients diversification by offering separate mutual funds for growth, value and balance across small-cap, small/mid-cap, multi-cap value and international equity classes, as well as taxable and tax-free bonds. Registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2008, Frost Investment Advisors manages $7.6 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2011.

About Frost

Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) is a financial holding company, headquartered in San Antonio, with $17.9 billion in assets at March 31, 2011 and more than 110 financial centers throughout Texas.  One of 24 U.S. banks included in the KBW Bank Index, Frost provides a wide range of banking, investments and insurance services to businesses and individuals in the Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio regions. Founded in 1868, Frost has helped clients with their financial needs during three centuries. Additional information is available at frostbank.com.

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee similar future results. The investment performance and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost and current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Performance through 3.31.11 for FIJEX is: 8.46% (one year); 7.57% (five year) and 6.10% (since inception).  Performance quoted prior to April 25, 2008 is that of the Predecessor Fund.  For performance data current to the most recent month end, please call 1- 877-71-FROST (37678).

Mutual fund investing involves risk including loss of principal.  Bond and bond funds are subject to interest rate risk and will decline in value as interest rates rise.  To the extent the Fund invests in other investment companies, the Fund will be subject to substantially the same risks as those associated with the direct ownership of the securities held by such other investment companies.  The Fund may also invest in derivatives.  Derivatives are often more volatile than other investments and may magnify the Fund's gains or losses.

To determine if the Fund is an appropriate investment for you, carefully consider the fund's investment objectives, risk, charges and expenses. This and other information can be found in the fund's prospectus which can be obtained by calling 1-877-71-FROST. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

The Frost Funds are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. SEI Investments Distribution Co. is not affiliated with the Adviser or its affiliates.

The Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond Index represents securities that are SEC-registered, taxable and dollar denominated.  The index covers the US investment grade fixed rate bond market, with index components for government and corporate securities, mortgage pass-through securities and asset-backed securities.  Investors cannot invest directly in an index.

© [2011] Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ metric each month by subtracting the return on a 90-day U.S. Treasury Bill from the fund's load-adjusted return for the same period, and then adjusting this excess return for risk.  The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable).

Morningstar Ratings metrics:  

• FIDVX and FADVX were rated against 1,120 (three years); 945 (five years) and 522 (ten years) US domiciled Large Value funds.  FIDVX received a Morningstar rating of 4, 5 and 4 stars respectively and FADVX received a rating of 3, 5 and 4 stars respectively.
• FILKX was rated against 1,505 (three years) and 1,312 (five years) US-domiciled Large Growth funds and received a Morningstar rating of 4 stars for each period.
• FITNX and FATNX were rated against 728 (three years); 538 (five years) and 306 (ten years) Foreign Large Blend funds.  FITNX received a Morningstar rating of 5 stars for each period and FATNX received ratings of 4, 5 and 5 stars respectively.
• FIMUX was rated against 214 (three years); 193 (five years) and 137 (ten years) Muni National Intermediate Bond funds and received a Morningstar Rating of 3, 4 and 2 stars respectively.
• FILDX was rated against 382 (three years); 327 (five years) and 191 (ten years) Short Bond funds and received a Morningstar Rating of 4, 5 and 4 stars respectively.
• FIJEX and FATRX were rated against 1,021 (three years); 873 (five years) and 563 (ten years) Intermediate Term Bond funds. FIJEX received a Morningstar Rating of 5, 5 and 4 stars respectively and FATRX received a Morningstar Rating of 4, 4 and 3 stars respectively.

For more information:
Renee Sabel
210-220-5416
[email protected]

SOURCE Frost Investment Advisors, LLC