The Case of the Disappearing Fund Manager

The bizarre saga over the disappearance of a star mutual fund manager early last year and the subsequent walkout by four of his former colleagues seems to be at an end.

Charles De Vaulx, former chief investment officer of First Eagle funds, and lead manager of the $21.7 billion Global Fund SGENX, $9.1 billion OverseasSGOVX, and the $1.2 billion GoldSGGDX mysteriously vanished from his employer last March.

At the time, De Vaulx went to ground while First Eagle remained tightlipped about the situation.

Then last September, four of his former colleagues -- Charles "Chuck" de Lardemelle, Simon Fenwick, Michael Malafronte and Lawrence Borsanyi -- all quit First Eagle too, just days after TA Associates acquired a minority stake in First Eagle's parent company Arnold & S. Bleichroeder Holdings.

The foursome, who constituted the core part of the investment team, won't exactly say why they left, but it appears to have been a dispute over compensation.

Now De Vaulx has turned up, this time with his old buddies as a partner and portfolio manager at a firm called International Value Advisors.

The four others, Lardemelle, Fenwick, Malafronte and Borsanyi, formed the new firm on Feb. 1, and have now amassed assets under management of $275 million.

So far, the assets are from institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, although there is the possibility that in the future the firm does make a mutual fund offering.

"We don't want to close the door to anything, but right now we have enough on our plate," says Lardemelle, now the firm's chief investment officer. "We'll see where the demand comes from."