The team at a $5.7-billion-AUM (as of August 31) Arizona fund firm is celebrating the rise of their newest mutual fund into nine-figure territory.

Cole W. Smead Smead Capital management CEO, Portfolio Manager

On Monday, Cole Smead, CEO and president of Smead Capital Management, Inc. [profile], and Bill Smead, chief investment officer, confirmed that the Smead International Value Fund recently surpassed $100 million in AUM. The fund is the 16-year-old, Phoenix-based firm's second mutual ever.

The Smead International Value Fund, a series of the Smead Funds Trust, launched in January 2022 as a reorganization of a $25-million-AUM, seven-year-old Smead hedge fund powered by the same strategy. Cole Smead has served as lead portfolio manager since the mutual fund's inception, and Bill Smead has served as co-PM since inception. Smead Capital Management serves as the fund's investment advisor.

The 20-month-old mutual fund comes in six flavors: A shares (SVXAX), with up to 575 basis points in up-front load, up to 100bps in deferred load, an expense ratio of 142bps, and a minimum initial investment of $3,000; Investor shares (SVXLX), with an expense ratio of 125bps and a $3,000 minimum; C shares (SVXCX), with up to 100bps in deferred load, an expense ratio of 200bps, and a $25,000 minimum; I1 shares (SVXFX), with an expense ratio of 115bps and a $1 million minimum; I2 shares (SVXIX), with an expense ratio of 110bps and a $1 million minimum; and Y shares (SVXYX), with an expense ratio of 100bps and a $10 million minimum.

"Our investors joined with us as partners to utilize our investment discipline abroad over the last eight years," Cole Smead states, contrasting the fund's success with the context of many investors thinking that attractive returns are only to be found in the U.S. "Stock market failure has been rampant among foreign equity exchanges creating psychology that provides an ideal temperature to execute our investment authority."

"We continue to look forward to being invested side-by-side with the strongest owner-operators outside the U.S.," Bill Smead states.

The Smead International Value Fund's other service providers include: Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. as counsel; the Northern Trust Company as administrator, custodian, and fund accountant; UMB Distribution Services, LLC as distributor; and UMB Fund Services, Inc. as dividend paying agent and transfer agent. 

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