NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MainStay Investments (“MainStay”), a New York Life company, today announced the formation of a new subadvisory relationship with Cushing® Asset Management, LP (“Cushing”), a subsidiary of Swank Capital, LLC, a Dallas-based leading manager of master limited partnerships (“MLPs”) and other energy-related investments with approximately $3.5 billion in assets. Through this new strategic relationship, MainStay would adopt three existing open-end mutual funds, managed by Cushing, with approximately $1.6 billion in assets under management.
“Companies across the energy supply chain and energy master limited partnerships have experienced significant growth given the increasing demand for energy and the desire for American energy independence," said President of MainStay Investments, Stephen Fisher. “These funds can provide diversification for investors given they generally offer low correlation to other asset classes historically, inflation protection, and a steady stream of distributions. We look forward to working with Cushing, a firm with an excellent track record, strong investment culture, and expertise in the energy sector.”
Cushing’s Founder, Jerry Swank added, “Our team is very excited about the opportunities presented by this new relationship with MainStay Investments, a leader in the mutual fund industry and affiliated with the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States. We believe the operational and distribution resources offered by MainStay will play an important role in our future growth while enabling our team to remain focused on the execution of our investment strategy.”
Subject to shareholder approvals, on or about July 1, 2014, MainStay Investments will become the investment advisor to the new funds and Cushing will be the sub-advisor. Cushing will also continue to be responsible for day-to-day portfolio management. MainStay would adopt the Cushing® MLP Premier Fund (“Premier”) (A Class: CSHAX, C Class: CSHCX, I Class: CSHZX), Cushing® Royalty Energy Income Fund (“Royalty Energy”) (A Class: CURAX, C Class: CURCX, I Class: CURZX), and Cushing® Renaissance Advantage Fund (“Renaissance”) (A Class: CRZAX, C Class: CRZCX, I Class: CRZZX ), (together the “Cushing Funds”) to the MainStay Family of Funds. The funds would be reorganized as “MainStay Cushing” mutual funds and would complement MainStay’s existing suite of non-traditional investment solutions.
About The Cushing Funds
Cushing’s Premier Fund invests primarily in MLPs focused on the midstream energy sector, which generally includes businesses engaged in the transportation and storage of natural resources. The Royalty Energy Fund is a specialty fund focused primarily on the upstream energy sector, which is commonly referred to as the exploration and production sector, which includes businesses engaged in the search of drilling and extraction of crude oil or raw natural gas. Both the Premier and Royalty Energy Funds seek current income and capital appreciation utilizing fundamental, proprietary research to seek to identify the most attractive MLP investments with attractive distribution yields and distribution growth prospects. Complementing the MLP-focused funds, the Renaissance Fund is one of the first mutual funds focused on the emerging U.S. energy renaissance theme; investing thematically in energy, industrial, manufacturing and logistics companies positioned to benefit from increasing U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas and lower relative domestic energy costs.
About MainStay Investments
With approximately $102 billion in assets under management as of February 28, 2014 across retail mutual funds and variable product sub-accounts, MainStay Investments is the mutual fund distribution arm of New York Life. MainStay provides financial advisors access to a powerful mix of autonomous, institutional investment managers, delivered by people who understand the needs of today’s financial advisor. As an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, MainStay is owned by the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States* and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Please visit MainStay at www.mainstayinvestments.com for more information.
About Cushing® Asset Management
With approximately $3.5 billion in assets under management, as of February 28, 2014, Cushing® Asset Management, LP, (“Cushing”), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swank Capital, LLC and an SEC-registered investment adviser headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Cushing serves as investment adviser to affiliated funds, which invest primarily in securities of MLPs and other natural resource companies. Cushing has continually expanded its platform of MLP-related investment products, leveraging extensive industry contacts and comprehensive research depth to drive both passive and actively managed investment opportunities for individual and institutional investors. Cushing seeks to identify and exploit investment niches it believes are generally less understood and less followed by the broader investor community. Please visit Cushing’s website at www.swankcapital.com for more information.
*Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, May 20, 2013. See http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/faq/?iid=F500_sp_method for methodology.
For more information about MainStay Funds, call 800-MAINSTAY (624-6782) for a prospectus or summary prospectus. Investors are asked to consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the investment carefully before investing. The prospectus or summary prospectus contains this and other information about the investment company. Please read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing.
MainStay Investments is a registered name under which New York Life Investment Management LLC does business. MainStay Investments, an indirect subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, New York, NY 10010, provides investment advisory products and services. The MainStay Funds are managed by New York Life Investment Management LLC and distributed through NYLIFE Distributors LLC, 169 Lackawanna Avenue, Parsippany, NJ 07054, a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company. NYLIFE Distributors LLC is a Member of FINRA/SIPC.