A little help: American Funds looks to Guardian to help boost performance

American Funds is getting a hand from its institutional money management sister company Capital Guardian as parent company Capital Research and Management Company looks to boost the fund family's equity performance. Portfolio managers Robert Lovelace, William Robbins, Dylan Yolles and Noriko Chen will begin working with Capital Guardian's research team on September 1. “The goal is to help make us the best investment professionals we can be,” said spokesman Chuck Freadhoff. “We're taking advantage of research capabilities we never have before.” The four managers are responsible for various sleeves of the American Funds American Mutual Fund Ticker:(AMRMX), American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund Ticker:(AEPGX), American Funds New Perspective Fund Ticker:(ANWPX) and the American Funds SmallCap World Fund Ticker:(SMCWX). American Funds' outflow woes — investors have pulled more than $220 billion since June 2008, according to Morningstar Inc. — commenced following the fund family's poor performance coming out of the financial crisis. The average American fund ranks in its category's 45th percentile over the five-year period ending June 30. The recent performance still hasn't dinged the family's long-term record, which helped it grow to $1.2 trillion in assets at its peak in 2007. Over the 15-years ending June, the average American fund ranks in the 26th percentile of its category, according to Morningstar.