Product Offering

Learn More About Our Products

U.S. Equities: Investment Objective and Strategy

Our U.S. growth equity strategies (all cap, large cap, midcap, small-mid cap, and small cap) seek to provide capital appreciation and competitive returns in the U.S. growth equity arena. Each strategy’s portfolio management team selects quality growth stocks in the appropriate market capitalization spectrum that it believes have the long-term potential to outperform each product’s respective benchmark.

Our investment process incorporates a research-driven, bottom-up fundamental approach through which we identify quality growth companies with a durable business franchise. A quality growth company has a strong management team, sustainable business model, and solid financials.

Our U.S. small-cap value portfolios are invested primarily in companies with market capitalization below $1.5 billion. We seek to purchase companies trading at a material discount or price/value disparity from our long-term estimate of intrinsic value. Using a fundamental, bottom-up, research-driven approach/style, value is added at the stock-selection level. Portfolios are diversified across sectors and industries to reduce risk relative to the Russell 2000 Value Index.

Products
All Cap Growth
Large Cap Growth
Mid Cap Growth
SMID Growth
Small Cap Growth*
Small Cap Value*

* Product is closed; please contact William Blair & Company for more information

International Equities: Investment Objective and Strategy

International growth portfolios (international growth, international core growth, emerging-markets growth, international small cap, and ADR) invest in common stocks of foreign companies. The portfolio managers seek stocks of well-managed, quality growth companies that are expected to maintain exceptional growth, profitability, and quality relative to other companies in various developed and emerging-markets regions outside the United States. Each strategy’s portfolio management team selects quality growth stocks in the appropriate market capitalization, region, and sector spectrum that it believes have the long-term potential to outperform each product’s respective benchmark.

Our investment process starts from an unbiased and cosmopolitan perspective, with a research process that emphasizes judgment about company management and fundamental execution. Our evaluation criteria are clearly defined and our decision process is consensus-driven and collegial. Our holdings come in all sizes and sectors in the emerging-markets regions. Our research framework enables us to envision a company’s long-term potential and risk structure in a consistent, repeatable way. Our holdings generally exhibit consistent profitability and growth, better-than-market balance sheet structure, and reasonable valuation rates.

Products
International (All-Cap) Growth
International Core Growth
Emerging Markets Growth
International Small Cap Growth
Emerging Leaders Growth Fund

Global: Investment Objective and Strategy

Our global strategy (global growth) invests in quality growth companies of all sizes around the world. It seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation and competitive returns in the global arena.

The portfolio managers will seek equity securities of companies that historically have had and are expected to maintain superior growth, profitability and quality relative to local markets and relative to companies within the same industry worldwide. The sector and geographic diversification will vary, based upon fundamental research, coupled with the ongoing evaluation of economic, market and political trends throughout the world.

Products
Global Growth

Fixed Income: Investment Objective and Strategy

Core fixed-income portfolios are invested in U.S.-dollar denominated, investment-grade securities. Portfolios include a mix of primarily U.S. government, corporate, and mortgage-backed securities. The primary investment objective is to outperform the Lehman Aggregate Index.

Intermediate core fixed-income portfolios are invested in U.S.-dollar denominated, investment-grade securities. Portfolios include a mix of primarily U.S. government, corporate, and mortgage-backed securities. The primary investment objective is to outperform the Lehman Intermediate Government/Credit Index.

Products
Core Fixed Income
Intermediate Core Fixed Income