, Columnist
Third Avenue Tries to Wash Away Turmoil
Asset manager may unload holdings, but the blemish will linger.
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There are times when mutual funds look a bit like banks.
So it goes with Third Avenue Management, the asset manager that’s shrunk from $26 billion in 2006 to about $5 billion earlier this year. The firm is reportedly trying to wash its hands of its Focused Credit mutual fund, which blew up in December after preventing investors who were trying to flee from leaving. While the firm has been selling some of the fund’s holdings to repay remaining investors, it’s now looking for a firm to buy the remaining $600 million of assets in one fell swoop, according to a Wall Street Journal article on Thursday.