|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Watchdog Fund: A New Approach to Improving Corporate Governance Until now, small investors had few practical options for seeking improved corporate governance. Into this void has stepped the Watchdog Fund, a "one-of-a-kind -- mutual fund started by portfolio manager Howard Horowitz, chairman and chief executive of H Team Capital, an investment management firm based in New York." The fund is presented as an "opportunity for concerned citizens to advocate for corporate accountability in a way that matters -- with their dollars -- while simultaneously seeking to profit from improvements in the stocks." The fund's investment strategy is to "invest in troubled or undervalued U.S. companies with market capitalizations of between $75 million to $5 billion. The fund would help create value by actively pushing for reforms, even if that meant filing proxies or agitating for the sale of the company." Nell Minow, chairwoman of the Corporate Library, describes the Watchdog Fund as the "first fund available to retail investors with the specific investment strategy of active shareholder involvement as a way of increasing value." She noted that, "It's very unusual to have a fund with that focus, and it is unprecedented to have it available to the average retail investor." The Watchdog Fund offers a promising, market-based approach to improving corporate governance. However, given the multitude of mutual funds scandals, Winston will watching to see if the Watchdog Fund operates their own business with the same scrupulousness, accountability and protection of small investors that they seek from the companies in which they invest. |
|
