Oakmark Global Fund reopens to all new investors

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON, May 9 (Reuters) - New investors will be able to put more money into the highly touted Oakmark Global Fund again after Harris & Associates said on Friday it would fully reopen the portfolio.

The $2.6 billion value-oriented global offering, stocked with household names like drug company Novartis (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), car maker BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and luxury goods maker Bulgari (BULG.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), had been closed to most new investors since December 2003.

But now that existing investors are pulling savings out more rapidly than new money is flowing in, the company, like many others in the last few months, reversed course on Friday.

"This is a sensible step," Morningstar analyst Bill Rocco said, adding that retail investors will find it easier to buy the portfolio through fund supermarkets now. Previously newcomers had to buy the offering directly from Oakmark.

"The ease and convenience associated with this move are important, but I would not expect the floodgates to open in terms of new assets pouring in," Rocco said.

Oakmark, which has long gotten high marks for keeping shareholders' interests in mind, partially shut the door to new investors 4-1/2 years ago when new money was flooding in and managers faced pressure in putting it all to work.

Now the opposite is happening.

"In the years that the Fund was closed, the desire of existing investors to add to their accounts fully offset the needs of existing investors to sell their shares," fund manager Rob Taylor said in a statement.