By David Randall
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Loomis Sayles bond fund legend Dan Fuss will no longer manage several portfolios starting next year as he takes a significant step back in his duties, the asset management company said on Monday.
"Effective March 1, 2021, Daniel J. Fuss will take a significant step back from portfolio management," Loomis Sayles said in a regulatory disclosure.
Among the funds he will no longer manage is the $9 billion Loomis Sayles Bond Fund, the company said.
The date that Fuss, 87, steps back will coincide with his 45th anniversary at Loomis Sayles, where he is the vice chairman of the firm's board of directors and part of a management team that oversees approximately $65 billion in assets. He will continue working on the team in a senior adviser role, a spokeswoman said.
Over his career at Loomis Sayles, Fuss pioneered a multi-sector approach to fixed income investing, often following a contrarian strategy that strayed far from his fund's benchmarks and earned him multiple investing awards. As recently as 2019, he received the Outstanding Portfolio Manager Award from fund tracker Morningstar.
"Fuss generated an exceptional long-term record with his multi-sector fixed income strategy outperforming and outlasting most of its competition," said Todd Rosenbluth, head of exchange-traded fund and mutual fund research at CFRA. "He was one of the few well-known bond fund managers in a world that has increasingly shifted to index-based investing."
The Loomis Sayles Bond fund has gained 1.1% for the year to date, a performance that puts it in the 86th percentile among its peers, according to Morningstar data.