Virtus Global Multi-Sector Income Fund IPO Raises $215 Million

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ: VRTS), which operates a multi-manager asset management business, today announced that it has raised $215 million in a common stock offering for its newest closed-end fund, Virtus Global Multi-Sector Income Fund (NYSE: VGI), which began trading February 24 on the New York Stock Exchange.  Assuming full exercise of the underwriters' overallotment option, which may or may not occur, the fund will have raised approximately $247 million.  The offering was led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and UBS Investment Bank.

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The fund, whose investment objective is to maximize current income while preserving capital, is managed by Newfleet Asset Management, a Virtus affiliate with $8.1 billion in assets under management at December 31, 2011.  The Newfleet team has a long track record in multi-sector fixed income investing with an approach that utilizes extensive credit research to identify and invest in undervalued areas of various sectors of the global bond markets.  

"The Virtus Global Multi-Sector Income Fund gives investors an opportunity to benefit from broadly diversified holdings across the major domestic and international fixed-income sectors, a strategy that offers the potential to generate an attractive yield in the current fixed income market environment," said David L. Albrycht, senior portfolio manager of the fund and chief investment officer, Multi-Sector Fixed Income Strategies, at Newfleet.

Under the direction of Albrycht and portfolio managers Benjamin Caron, Kyle A. Jennings, and Daniel Senecal, the fund uses a value-driven approach that first overweights or underweights fixed income sectors on a top-down basis, then uses fundamental research to assess specific investments in the portfolio.  "This is a successful and time-tested discipline that we have used for more than two decades to manage multi-sector portfolios, including Virtus' largest open-end mutual fund, the Multi-Sector Short Term Bond Fund," Albrycht added.

The fund may also use financial leverage, which is anticipated to initially take the form of a credit facility, to increase investible assets and potentially enhance the level of cash distributions to shareholders.

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