NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Street Advisors, Inc., an SEC-registered investment advisor, today announced the launch of the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund, an open-end mutual fund which will invest in midstream energy infrastructure master limited partnerships (MLPs). The Fund’s sub-advisor is Center Coast Capital Advisors, a Houston-based investment advisor, whose founder and CEO, Dan Tutcher, is widely recognized as an extremely knowledgeable and experienced executive in the MLP sector.
Investing successfully in midstream MLPs requires considerable insight, analysis, and experience, yet the business model is quite simple to understand. Midstream MLPs generally build, own, and operate the physical assets that support U.S. energy infrastructure, such as pipelines and storage facilities. They act very much like "toll collectors," generating revenue via the transportation, processing, and storage of natural resources.
MLPs, represented by the Wells Fargo Securities MLP Index, have provided one of the best risk adjusted rate of returns of any asset class over the past decade as of December 31, 2010 as compared to such Indices as the S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, FTSE NAREIT, and Barclays Capital US Corp High Yield Total Return.
"The Center Coast MLP Focus Fund was created in direct response to market turmoil and the high degree of uncertainty over the past several years," said Timothy Reick, CEO of Liberty Street Advisors. "Our goal was to create an investment vehicle that would capitalize on an asset class that has historically provided investors with stable and attractive, tax advantaged income, provided the potential for capital appreciation, and had a strong history of growing distributions faster than inflation. Equally as important, the investment vehicle had to be one that the everyday investor could easily understand. The Center Coast MLP Focus Fund ticks every one of those levers."
Mr. Tutcher founded Center Coast Capital in 2007, and has more than three decades of experience owning, managing, and acquiring MLPs. Prior to forming Center Coast, Mr. Tutcher was President of Enbridge Energy Company Inc., and President and Director of Enbridge Energy Partners, LP, one of the 10 largest MLPs in terms of market capitalization. Prior to his time at Enbridge, Mr. Tutcher founded and was CEO of MidCoast Energy Resources, Inc., which he merged into Enbridge in 2001 (a $900 million transaction).
"We were especially drawn to Center Coast because of the unique coupling of Dan's experience as an MLP industry veteran and CEO with the significant asset management experience of the other members of his team. That combination is not easy to find," said Mr. Reick.
In addition to Mr. Tutcher, the Fund will be managed by Center Coast co-founders Steven Sansom and Darrell Horn, as well as senior portfolio manager Robert Chisholm. Mr. Chisholm, an MLP merger and acquisition (M&A) specialist, has worked with Mr. Tutcher for the past nine years. He previously worked at Enbridge Energy Partners as Senior Project Analyst and at Koch Industries, Inc. where he held various positions in the company’s capital market, hydrocarbon, and midstream groups. Mr. Chisholm also worked in Morgan Keegan's Energy Investment Banking Division. Messrs. Sansom and Horn worked for Goldman Sachs’ Investment Management Division and created Green Square Capital, an SEC-registered investment advisor, in 2001, before co-founding Center Coast Capital along with Mr. Tutcher in 2007.
Said Dan Tutcher: "There has been a significant emergence of unconventional natural gas and crude oil shale plays here in the U.S. over the past several years. We are also witnessing shifting sources of crude oil and a growing demand for natural gas liquids from the petrochemical industry. Each of these items creates strong demand for new infrastructure, which will be built and operated predominantly by MLPs. We believe the depth of our team, with over 45 years of experience owning/operating and acquiring MLPs and their assets, enables us to have a distinct advantage to identify which companies have the management teams, balance sheets, and assets best positioned to capitalize on this opportunity."
Direct investments in MLPs have historically created onerous and complex tax obligations, as investors would receive K-1s and, in some cases, State and UBTI tax filings for each MLP owned. Investors in the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund will receive a single IRS Form 1099. The Fund will also intend to provide daily liquidity and will be available in A, C, and Institutional share classes. The Center Coast MLP Focus Fund intends to invest in a focused portfolio of approximately 15 to 20 high quality MLP common units and equity securities of MLP affiliates, mostly involved in midstream energy refining, storing, and transportation. The Fund is currently available for purchase through Fidelity and Schwab.
For more information on the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund please call (877) 766-0066.
About Center Coast Capital
Center Coast Capital Advisors, LP is a registered investment adviser headquartered in Houston, Texas focusing on energy-related master limited partnerships (MLPs). Center Coast manages MLP assets with an investment process focused on due diligence from an owner-operator perspective. The goal of this process is to produce a portfolio of high-quality MLPs possessing the most durable cash flows, transparent growth prospects, and quality management teams in order to seek to generate a high level of risk-adjusted returns. Center Coast uses its unique experience and access to an extensive information network to conduct thorough due diligence and structured investment decision-making for selection of, what we believe to be, investments in the highest-quality public MLP companies.
Purchases of the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund are available in Class A, Class C, and Institutional Class Shares through financial consultants. The share class determines applicable sales charges and ongoing annual expenses. There is a minimum initial investment required of $2,500 for A or C shares; subsequent purchases may be made for a minimum of $100. There is a minimum initial investment required of $1,000,000 for Institutional shares; subsequent purchases may be made for a minimum of $100,000.
Before investing you should carefully consider the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by contacting your financial advisor or calling 877-766-0066. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest in the Fund.
An investment in the Center Coast MLP Focus Fund is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. The Fund concentrates in master limited partnerships (MLPs), which involves, but is not limited to, cash flow and tax risks. Unlike open-end mutual funds that are structured as regulated investment companies, the Fund will be taxable as a regular corporation, or “C” corporation, and will pay federal, state and local income taxes at the Fund level on its taxable income. The Fund will be subject to certain MLP tax risks and risks associated with accounting for its deferred tax liablity and/or asset balances which could materially reduce the net asset value per share of the Fund’s shares. As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may focus its assets in the securities of fewer issuers, which exposes the Fund to greater market risk than if its assets were diversified among a greater number of issuers. A substantial portion of the MLPs within the Fund are primarily engaged in the energy sector. As a result, any negative development affecting that sector, such as commodity and extreme weather risk, will have a greater impact on the Fund than a fund that is not over-weighted in that sector. Accordingly, the Fund may not be suitable for all investors.
One cannot invest directly in an Index.
Distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.