First Eagle High Yield Fund Celebrates Five-Year Track Record
Mutual Fund earns five-star Morningstar recognition
NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- First Eagle Investment Management ("First Eagle"), an independent, closely held asset management firm, today announced the five-year anniversary of the First Eagle High Yield Fund (FEHIX).
With $668 million in assets as of 11/30/12, the Fund has returned 13.0% annually since it was launched in November 2007 at Dwight Asset Management. First Eagle Investment Management began advising the Fund last year, and it has been managed by Edward Meigs, CFA and Sean Slein, CFA since inception.
"In an environment characterized by the Federal Reserve's commitment to low interest rates until mid-2015, we feel the First Eagle High Yield Fund gives investors an option for meaningful income," said John Arnhold, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of First Eagle. "We are proud of the accomplishments of the High Yield team and are pleased to have added the strategy to our offerings in the last year."
"We have felt at home at First Eagle from the very beginning, due to our philosophical alignment and our belief in the importance of absolute returns rather than relative returns," said Messrs. Meigs and Slein in a joint statement. "We remain optimistic about high yield, and with active management and security selection, we feel it can be an evergreen asset class for an investor's portfolio."
Strong Performance, Continuous Management
The First Eagle High Yield Fund Class I Shares are rated five stars overall by Morningstar, and the Fund is ranked 1st among 450 high yield bond funds for the 5-year period ended November 30, 2012. The Fund was named the 2011 Best High Current Yield Fund by Lipper.
The High Yield investment team has worked together continuously for over a decade and through two full credit cycles. Messrs. Meigs and Slein are also co-portfolio managers of the First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund along with Giorgio Caputo and Robert Hordon, CFA.
The First Eagle High Yield Fund seeks to provide a high level of current income. With a bottom-up investment approach and focus on fundamental research, the Fund seeks to maximize risk-adjusted returns by modifying risk exposure throughout the high yield credit cycle. For more details about the Fund, click here.
Messrs. Meigs and Slein recently contributed to a paper titled, "The Case for a Strategic Allocation to High Yield," which can be found here.
First Eagle offers absolute return-oriented strategies to mutual fund investors as well as pension funds, corporations, foundations, endowments and high-net-worth individuals.
About First Eagle Investment Management
First Eagle Investment Management is an independent, closely held asset management firm with approximately $71 billion* in assets under management, and a heritage dating back to 1803. Over its long history, the firm has helped its clients preserve capital and earn attractive returns through widely varied economic cycles—a tradition that is central to its mission today.
For more information visit www.feim.com. First Eagle Investment Management is the adviser to First Eagle Funds.
*As of 9/30/12
This is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, investment or other product. First Eagle Funds are offered by prospectus only. Investments are not FDIC insured or bank guaranteed, and may lose value.
| Average Annual Returns as of 9/30/2012 |
1 Year |
3 Years |
Since |
Expense |
Expense |
| First Eagle High Yield Fund - Class I (FEHIX) |
17.66% |
12.82% |
13.17% |
1.05% |
0.80% |
| The performance data quoted herein represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Market volatility can dramatically impact the fund's short-term performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than figures shown. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Past performance data through the most recent month end is available at firsteaglefunds.com or by calling 800.334.2143. |
| *Performance for 2007 is from 11/19/07 to 12/31/07. Class I Shares require $1MM minimum investment, and are offered without sales charge. Performance information is for Class I Shares without the effect of sales charges and assumes all distributions have been reinvested and if a sales charge was included values would be lower. Had fees not been waived and/or expenses reimbursed, the performance would have been lower. Class A and C Shares have maximum sales charges of 4.50% and 1.00% respectively, and 12b-1 fees, which reduce performance. The Fund commenced operations in its present form on December 30, 2011, and is successor to another mutual fund pursuant to a reorganization December 30, 2011. Information prior to December 30, 2011 is for this predecessor fund. Immediately after the reorganization, changes in net asset value of the Class I shares were partially impacted by differences in how the Fund and the predecessor fund price portfolio securities. |
| **These are the actual fund operating expenses prior to the application of fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements. The Adviser has contractually agreed to limit operating expenses of the Fund to an annual rate of 0.80% for I Shares, 0.95% for A Shares, and 1.66% for C Shares, with gross operating expenses of 1.05%, 1.12%, and 1.83% respectively. This limitation excludes certain expenses as described in the Fees and Expenses section of the prospectus. This limitation will continue until 2013 for I-Shares, and until 2012 for A and C Shares. The expense limitation may be terminated by the Adviser in future years. |
| The Fund invests in high yield securities (commonly known as ''junk bonds'') which are generally considered speculative because they may be subject to greater levels of interest rate, credit (including issuer default) and liquidity risk than investment grade securities and may be subject to greater volatility. The Fund invests in high yield securities that are non-investment grade. High yield, lower rated securities involve greater price volatility and present greater risks than high rated fixed income securities. High yield securities are rated lower than investment-grade securities because there is a greater possibility that the issuer may be unable to make interest and principal payments on those securities. |
| There are risks associated with investing in funds that invest in securities of foreign countries, such as erratic market conditions, economic and political instability and fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Funds whose investments are concentrated in a specific industry or sector may be subject to a higher degree of risk than funds whose investments are diversified and may not be suitable for all investors. All investments involve the risk of loss. |
| 2012 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. 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 Rating metrics. Ratings are relative to a peer group and do not necessarily mean that the fund had high total returns. For each fund with at least a 3-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.) First Eagle High Yield Fund Morningstar ratings – I Shares: High Yield Bond Category; Overall rating: 5 stars/513 funds; Three-year rating: 4 stars/513 funds; Five-year rating: 5 stars/450 funds. Different share classes may have different ratings. |
| First Eagle High Yield Fund Class I: The Morningstar percentile ranking for the First Eagle High Yield Fund was derived using the total return of the performance figure associated with its 1-, 3-, and 5-year periods, as of 11/30/12. Morningstar percentile rankings were: 44% for the 1-year (254/581), 22% for the 3-year (114/513), and 1% for the 5-year (1/450) periods when compared against the Morningstar High Yield Bond category. |
| The First Eagle Funds are offered by FEF Distributors, LLC, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10105. |
| Investors should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information about the fund, and may be obtained by visiting our website at firsteaglefunds.com or calling us at 800.747.2008. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Investments are not FDIC insured or bank guaranteed, and may lose value. |
SOURCE First Eagle Investment Management
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