American Century Investments continues to build out its new unit, Avantis Investors, which will launch five equity strategies aimed squarely at fee-based advisors. The unit has hired Geoff Hunter, who most recently managed RIA and family office relationships in the Midwest for WisdomTree, as vice president, relationship director and investment specialist.
Avantis was launched in June by former Dimensional Fund Advisors executives Eduardo Repetto and Patrick Keating. The team is developing a new suite of actively managed mutual funds and ETFs based on academic research and financial science and promising diversification and low cost.
Avantis funds will be noncommissionable products targeted solely to fee-based advisors. They will not be sold directly to investors. The portfolio managers won’t try to find what securities are mispriced but, rather, will use market prices and financial science to rank securities based on expected returns.
Industry observers have said the new unit looked and felt a lot like what DFA already does.
