Convergence Investment Partners Awarded 5-Star Morningstar Ratings

MEQUON, Wis., Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Convergence Investment Partners, a quantitative investment management firm that employs a dynamic long/short approach to managing portfolios, today announced a significant accomplishment –  a 5-Star Morningstar Rating for its Convergence Core Plus Fund (ticker symbol MARNX).

The Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the fund's three-, five- and ten-year risk adjusted return measure (if applicable).  The ratings range from one to five stars, with the best performers (top 10%) receiving five stars.

"The Five-Star Morningstar Rating validates our goal of providing a low level of risk relative to positive returns," said David Schulz, CFA, president of Convergence Investment Partners and a 30-year portfolio management veteran. "More importantly, the rating illustrates that we continue to deliver solutions that meet the needs of our investors across uncertain markets."

David Abitz, CFA, portfolio manager of the Convergence Core Plus Fund, added, "The true value in this rating is that it re-confirms that our dynamic modeling approach has successfully capitalized on market inefficiencies amid changing market conditions. Because we objectively evaluate and act upon changes affecting equity securities as well as changes in investor preferences, the Fund's investment process is especially well positioned to capitalize on market uncertainty."

Convergence is part of Montage Investments, a diverse group of institutional investment managers that together manage $13 billion for a wide range of investors.

According to Gary P. Henson, CFA, CFP® and president of Montage, "The Convergence team strives to continuously capitalize on changing market environments with a goal of providing outstanding risk-adjusted returns. In addition, the long/short component of the fund can offer a built-in tax advantage."

This is evidenced by the fact that, as of December 31, 2012, MARNX ranked in the top 4% out of 1,686 funds on a one-year tax-adjusted return basis and in the top 2% out of 1,506 funds on a three-year tax-adjusted return basis by Morningstar in addition to out-performing its Morningstar Large Blend peer group by 589 basis points in calendar year 2012 and 642 basis points over the past three years.

The Convergence Core Plus Fund was ranked in the second percentile of its peer group on a risk-adjusted return basis for the three-year period ending December 31, 2012. Additional details regarding the fund's performance are as follows:

About Convergence Investment Partners

Convergence Investment Partners uses quantitative tools to select investments, construct portfolios and manage risk for individuals, businesses, financial advisors and institutional investors. The team applies proprietary investment strategies, supported by extensive research, with a goal of generating alpha across various stages of the market cycle.  Visit www.investcip.com

About Montage Investments

Montage Investments brings together a unique group of institutional investment managers – each offering a distinct approach to money management that reflects many decades of professional experience and proprietary investment strategies across global asset classes. Collectively, the Montage affiliates manage more than $13 billion, including more than $1 billion in six mutual funds. The firm's organizational approach is to allow individual investment managers to retain boutique processes, talent and culture with a goal of adding value to portfolios, while at all times meeting client objectives.  Visit www.montageinvestments.com

The fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The summary prospectus and statutory prospectus contain this and other important information about the investment company, and may be obtained by calling 877-677-9414, or visiting http://www.investcip.com/solutions/coreplus/. Read it carefully before investing.

Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. Investments in midcap companies involve additional risk such as limited liquidity and greater volatility than larger capitalization companies. The Fund invests in foreign securities which involve greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods. The fund regularly makes short sales of securities, which involves unlimited risk including the possibility that losses may exceed the original amount invested. However, a mutual fund investor's risk is limited to one's amount of investment in a mutual fund.

Beta measures the sensitivity of rates of return on a fund to general market movements. Alpha is an annualized return measure of how much better or worse a fund's performance is relative to an index of funds in the same category, after allowing for differences in risk.  Basis point is a unit that is equal to 1/100^th of 1%, and is used to denote the change in a financial instrument.

Morningstar Large Blend funds have portfolios that are fairly representative of the overall stock market in both size, growth rates, and price.  They tend to invest across the spectrum of U.S. industries and owing to their broad exposure, the funds returns are often similar to those of the S&P 500 Index.  One cannot invest directly in an index.

Convergence Investment Partners is the advisor to the Convergence Core Plus Fund, which is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.

For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ (based on a Morningstar Risk Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance, including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. 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. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Convergence Core Plus Fund received 5 stars among 1,506 Large Blend Funds for the three-year period ending December 31, 2012.

Morningstar Rankings represent a fund's total-return percentile rank relative to all funds that have the same Morningstar Category.  The highest percentile rank is 1 and the lowest is 100.  It is based on Morningstar total return, which includes both income and capital gains or losses and is not adjusted for sales charges or redemption fees. 

©2013 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.

Any tax or legal information provided is merely a summary of our understanding and interpretation of some of the current tax regulations and is not exhaustive.  Investors must consult their tax advisor or legal counsel for advice and information concerning their particular situation.  Neither the Fund nor any of its representatives may give legal or tax advice.

For more information regarding the rating methodology, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Convergence Investment Partners