Wasatch to close funds to new investors

Wasatch Advisors Inc. of Salt Lake City yesterday announced that it will close the Wasatch Micro Cap Value Fund (WAMVX) and the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund (WAIOX) to new retail investors June 30. Both funds were recently re-opened to new investors May 1. Since the funds reopened, the assets of the Wasatch micro-cap fund grew 32% to $125 million, and those of the international-opportunities fund grew nearly 9% to $51 million. The reopening of the funds attracted many new investors, and the decision to close is based on asset size, Wasatch said in a statement. “Wasatch errs on the conservative side of closing funds early to protect our shareholders, and this feels like the right time to now close the fund,” Blake Walker, portfolio manager of the international-opportunities fund, said in the statement. John Malooly is the portfolio manager of Micro Cap Value Fund. Both funds will remain open to investments from current shareholders. With these two closings, 11 of the firm’s 14 funds will remain open to investors. The fund family had $4 billion in assets under management as of May 31, according to the firm.