Copper Rock Named Sub-Advisor to Touchstone Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund

CINCINNATI, June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Touchstone Investments has named specialized global equity investment manager Copper Rock Capital Partners sub-advisor to its Touchstone Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund (TEMAX, TEFCX, TEMYX, TMEIX). This is an expansion of its relationship with Touchstone, as Copper Rock also serves as sub-advisor to the Touchstone International Small Cap Fund, which has more than $400 million in assets under management as of March 31, 2016. David Shea, CFA, and Stephen Dexter, both 25-year industry veterans, will be the Fund's Portfolio Managers.

Boston-based Copper Rock seeks to take advantage of inefficiencies across market capitalization and geographies to generate alpha for clients. It applies rigorous fundamental research combined with a disciplined sell strategy to identify companies with strong growth relative to their peers. The ability to identify these companies before others often drives valuations upwards, leading to consistent levels of out-performance over time. The Emerging Markets Small Cap asset class is attractive as it remains typically among the least researched and most inefficient of the equity markets and provides a rich hunting ground for Copper Rock's unique investment process.

"We've had a strong record of outperformance compared to our benchmarks, and as a result, we have been awarded new business. Our assets under management increased more than 49 percent in 2015," said Stephen Dexter, chairman and CIO of Copper Rock. "We are focusing on raising more awareness of our Emerging Markets Small Cap strategy in 2016 as the demand for active management in niche and capacity constrained asset classes, like this one, increases."

"Expanding our sub-advisory relationship with Copper Rock means investors will have additional access to one of our highly active managers, one who has recently experienced impressive growth," said Steven M. Graziano, president of Touchstone Investments. "We have a rigorous sub-advisory selection process to identify independent thinkers who are some of the industry's leading institutional asset managers. Copper Rock is known for its non-U.S. small-cap strategies, which have resonated with some of the world's most sophisticated institutional investors."

For more information about the fund, investors or their advisors should visit http://touchstoneinvestments.com/mutual-funds/emerging-markets-small-cap-fund-overview-a-shares.htm.

Copper Rock replaces AGF Investments America as sub-advisor. Russell Implementation Services served as interim sub-advisor to the fund, previously called the Touchstone Emerging Markets Equity Fund.

Touchstone incorporates a sub-advisor model that offers investors access to institutional asset managers whose strategies are typically not available to average shareholders.

About Touchstone Investments
Touchstone Investments is a mutual fund company committed to providing investors with access to institutional asset managers who act in a sub-advisory capacity. Managed by sub-advisors with high conviction, concentrated portfolios, Touchstone's entire equity fund lineup is composed of high Active Share funds which means their holdings are highly differentiated from their benchmarks. Touchstone's sub-advisor selection and monitoring approach is built upon the conviction that an asset manager's organizational stability, quality of its personnel, adherence to its investment discipline and infrastructure represent the elements of repeatable, value-added performance results over time. This philosophy has resulted in a diverse but focused product offering that gives investors a full breadth of investment options across styles and asset classes. The Touchstone Funds are advised by Touchstone Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor, and are distributed nationally through intermediaries including broker-dealers, financial planners and institutions by Touchstone Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Touchstone, Touchstone Funds and Touchstone Investments are federal service mark registrations and applications owned by IFS Financial Services, Inc. Touchstone Securities, Inc., Touchstone Advisors, Inc. and IFS Financial Services, Inc. are members of Western & Southern Financial Group. For more information, please visit www.TouchstoneInvestments.com.

About Copper Rock Capital Partners
Copper Rock Capital Partners LLC provides specialized global equity investment management strategies for institutional investors located around the world. Founded in Boston in 2005, Copper Rock combines its proprietary quantitative analysis with extensive fundamental investment research to identify securities that provide superior earnings growth and returns relative to their peers. As of March 31, 2016, Copper Rock had approximately $4.9 billion in assets under management and more than 80 clients. Copper Rock is an affiliate of OM Asset Management, a NYSE-listed company (NYSE: OMAM). For more information, visit www.CopperRockCapital.com.

Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The prospectus and the summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Fund. To obtain a prospectus or a summary prospectus, contact your financial advisor or download and/or request one at TouchstoneInvestments.com/literature-center or call Touchstone at 800.638.8194. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing.

The Fund invests in equities which are subject to market volatility and loss. The Fund invests in foreign securities, including depositary receipts, such as ADRs, GDRs and EDRs, which carry the associated risks of economic and political instability, market liquidity, currency volatility and differences in accounting standards. The Fund invests in emerging markets securities which are more likely to experience turmoil or rapid changes in market or economic conditions than developed countries. The Fund invests in stocks of small- and mid-cap companies, which may be subject to more erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to risk. The advisor engages the sub-advisor to manage the Fund's portfolio; the sub-advisor's judgment may impact the Fund's performance.

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SOURCE Touchstone Investments