Touchstone hunting for funds, eying tactical strategy

Touchstone Investments is looking to adopt funds to fill out its product lineup. Although the fund manager launched 10 new funds Oct. 1, there are still holes in its product lineup, president Steven Graziano said in an interview. Specifically, Touchstone is interested in acquiring a global tactical asset allocation fund. “That's a category that is gaining popularity,” Mr. Graziano said. “Many advisers are less wedded to the style box approach to managing portfolios, and they would like an all-in-one solution where the manager makes the call rather than the adviser.” Fund adoption has not been a big part of Touchstone's strategy, but it did play a big role in the growth of Pioneer Investments, where Mr. Graziano headed distribution until August. “The value proposition for adopting a fund is that we can bring our marketing strength to the table and we can help raise assets,” he said. Mr. Graziano said the firm doesn't have a timetable for when it would acquire a fund. Touchstone had $5.6 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30.