Davis to Steer Clipper Fund

(CFIMX Quote)Clipper Fund announced its new skipper Wednesday, making a somewhat surprising choice.

After two months of uncertainty over who would lead the fund, Clipper's independent directors selected a team from Davis Selected Advisers, headed by Christopher Davis, to replace James Gipson and his lineup at Pacific Financial Research. Clipper will continue to be managed by PFR through the end of the year, and Davis will take over effective Jan. 1.

The reorganization comes after Gipson and his co-managers Michael Sandler and Bruce Veaco announced in September that they would leave the fund at the end of the year. At the time, PFR's parent said Clipper would be placed under the care of investment-management firm Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Straus, which was widely expected to remain the fund's manager. The parent company, London's Old Mutual, planned to fold PFR into Barrow Hanley upon the trio's departure. ...