MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Baird Funds today launched the Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund (BSNIX/BSNSX) and the Baird Municipal Bond Fund (BMQIX/BMQSX). These are the first new bond funds introduced by the Baird Advisors team since launching Baird Short-Term Municipal Bond Fund (BTMIX/BTMSX) and Baird Core Intermediate Municipal Bond Fund (BMNIX/BMNSX) in 2015. Both funds will be co-managed by Lyle Fitterer, CFA, Duane McAllister, CFA, Erik Schleicher, CFA, and Joseph Czechowicz, CFA.
“In addition to adding breadth to our municipal bond investment team, we are expanding our lineup in a way that is complementary to our existing funds and will provide additional choices for municipal investors,” said Mary Ellen Stanek, CFA, President of the Baird Funds and Chief Investment Officer of Baird Advisors. “These Funds will be led by deeply experienced managers while maintaining our high-quality approach.”
Baird Advisors expanded its team in August with the addition of Lyle Fitterer, a nationally-recognized investment professional and experienced municipal bond manager. Prior to Baird, Fitterer spent 30 years with Wells Fargo, most recently he oversaw all municipal strategies and was Co-Head of Global Fixed Income.
Both funds seek a high level of current income that is exempt from federal income tax consistent with the preservation of capital. The Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund will maintain an average effective maturity between 3 months and 6 years. The Baird Municipal Bond Fund’s average effective maturity will be between 5 and 12 years. Each fund will have the ability to invest in below investment grade securities--Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund can invest up to 30% and Baird Municipal Bond Fund up to 15%. Both funds will invest at least 80% in securities exempt from federal tax and may invest up to 20% of net assets in municipal securities from which the interest is a tax preference item for the purposes of federal AMT. The investment minimum is $25,000 for the institutional classes and $2,500 for the investor classes of each fund. Both funds will be priced at .30 percent management fee for the institutional class and .55 for the investor class.
“There is significant interest in the municipal market and these funds allow us to better serve our investors by rounding out our suite of municipal funds,” said Duane McAllister, CFA, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager. Lyle Fitterer has experience managing similar strategies and we look forward to serving more investors with these approaches.”
About Baird Advisors
Baird Advisors is Baird’s fixed income asset management division and advisor to the Baird Bond Funds. The group manages more than $85 billion in taxable and tax-exempt fixed income portfolios including Baird Ultra Short Bond Fund, Baird Short-Term Bond Fund, Baird Intermediate Bond Fund, Baird Aggregate Bond Fund, Baird Core Plus Bond Fund, Baird Short-Term Municipal Bond Fund, Baird Core Intermediate Municipal Bond Fund, and Baird Quality Intermediate Municipal Bond Fund. For more information, visit www.bairdfunds.com.
About Baird
Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019, Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baird has approximately 4,500 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients. Committed to being a great workplace, Baird ranked No. 16 on FORTUNE’s 2019 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s website at www.rwbaird.com.
Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of each fund carefully before investing. This and other information is found in the prospectus and summary prospectus. For a prospectus or summary prospectus go here on our website or contact Baird directly at 866-442-2473. Please read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing.
