Lord Abbett revamps large-cap funds in bid to raise profile

In a move to increase awareness of its large-cap mutual funds, Lord Abbett & Co. LLC announced today it has changed the names of four of its large-cap offerings and lowered the expense ratio on one of them. Effective today, the Lord Abbett America’s Value Fund is the Lord Abbett Capital Structure Fund (LAMAX), the Lord Abbett Large Cap Core Fund is now the Lord Abbett Classic Stock Fund (LRLCX), the Lored Abbett All Value Fund is renamed the Lord Abbett Fundamental Equity Fund (LDFVX) and the Lord Abbett Large Cap Growth Fund is rechristened the Lord Abbett Stock Appreciation Fund (LALCX). The expense ratio of the Lord Abbett Classic Stock Fund has been reduced to 0.98% from $1.30%, the firm reported. The renaming of the funds does not involve any changes to the management teams or investment strategies, said Mike Weldon, director of retail marketing. “The idea is to give the investor and adviser a better understanding of the characteristics of the funds,” he said. Mr. Weldon acknowledged that the funds were having some trouble gaining recognition. “This is partly correct,” he said. “The funds were named after a style or style box, but that doesn’t really reflect how the fund invests.” Lord Abbett was able to lower the expense ratio on the Classic Stock fund by waiving a portion of the management fee, he said. “We wanted to make sure we were competitive in that space.” The Jersey City, N.J.-based firm had $73 billion in assets under management as of May 31.