Fund name: Artisan Global Value (ARTGX)

Objective: The fund uses fundamental analysis to identify undervalued foreign and domestic stocks. The managers look for four attributes: undervaluation, business quality (signaled by quant measures such as cash flow and ROIC and qualitative ones such as their competitive position within the industry), financial strength and shareholder orientation. The portfolio will hold 30-50 stocks, up to 30% emerging markets exposure, and a minimum investible size of $2 billion.

Adviser: Artisan Partners, L.P. Artisan is a remarkable operation. They advise the nine Artisan funds (the eight retail funds plus an institutional emerging markets fund), as well as a number of separate accounts. The firm has managed to amass $55 billion in assets under management, of which $25 billion are in their funds. Despite that, they have a very good track record for closing their funds – with varying degrees of tightness – while they’re still nimble. At the moment (1/27/08) six of their eight retail funds are closed. Perhaps as a result, management turnover has been virtually non-existent. They hired and then lost (or dismissed) an outside management team within six months of the launch of Midcap Value; otherwise, the team is very stable. All three of their retail international funds are "Analyst Picks" at Morningstar.

Managers: David Samra and Daniel O’Keefe. Both joined Artisan in 2002 after serving as analysts for the very successful Oakmark International, International Small Cap and Global funds. They co-manage the (closed, "Analyst Pick") Artisan International Value (ARTKX) fund and oversee about $2.2 billion in other accounts. Mr. O’Keefe was, for several years in the 90s, a Morningstar analyst.

Management’s Stake in the Fund: None yet reported, since the fund is new. Management's stake in their other fund is enormous, as is typical of the Artisan partners generally. Both of the managers have more than a million dollars in the International Value fund and every board member has over $100,000 invested in the Artisan funds. According to the most recent SAI, every senior Artisan manager (that is, anyone who has been with the company for more than a year or two) has a substantial stake in his/her fund and most have invested over a million. In addition, Artisan’s managers own the firm.

Opening date: December 10, 2007.

Minimum investment: $1,000 for regular and IRA accounts but the minimum is reduced to $50 for investors setting up an automatic investing plan. Artisan is one of a very few firms still willing to be so generous with small investors; AARP, Excelsior, Manning & Napier and T. Rowe Price are among the others.

Expense ratio: 1.48% after waivers, an estimated 1.93% without the waivers. The waiver is in effect until September 2008. There is a 2% redemption fee on shares held less than 90 days.

There are three arguments for considering an early position in this fund.

New Artisan funds are generally great funds. Artisan has a great track record for new fund launches. The company launches a new fund only when two conditions are satisfied: it believes it can add significant value and it has a manager who has the potential to be a "category killer." Almost all of Artisan's new funds have had very strong first-year performance. Among the recent launches:

Artisan Global is off to a reasonable start. It lost 4. 7% in January 2008 which places it in the top 5% of global funds, ahead of stars such as Oakmark Global and T. Rowe Price Global (both lost about 9%) and the very-promising Tweedy, Browne Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value (down about 6%).

Artisan treats their shareholders well. All of the managers are risk-conscious, so even the "growth" managers tend toward the "value" end of the spectrum. Beyond that, Artisan tends to charge below average expenses for both international and domestic funds. They don't pay for marketing (i.e., there are no 12b1 fees), and close their funds early. Artisan has, for example, more closed funds than any other no-load fund company: more (6) than Fidelity (5), Vanguard (4) or Price (3). Artisan, along with Bridgeway and Wasatch, are the firms most likely to close a fund, and close it early.

This is a really strong management team. Messrs. Samra and O’Keefe have been working together for a decade, initially on the value-oriented Oakmark funds (including Oakmark Global) and now on Artisan’s own International Value fund (ARTKX). International Value is closed to new investors, having drawn $1.4 billion in assets. While it earns only three stars from Morningstar, owing to a streakiness that seems inherent with great investors, Morningstar analysts describe the fund with words like "excellent," "great" and "superb." They’ve designated it as their only "Analyst Pick" in the small- to mid-cap international value realm. During their three years as analyst and senior analyst with Oakmark Global, that fund finished each year in the top 1-3% of its peer group while Oakmark International had a top tier returns four years running. I’m not arguing that Samra and O’Keefe were singularly responsible for Oakmark’s success, but that they’ve been immersed in, and contributed to, a culture of investment excellence for a long time. The investment process for the two funds is identical, so the experience in constructing International Value’s portfolio should offer a good roadmap to Global’s.

Global Value does have some noteworthy distinctions from International Value. Beyond the obvious matter of U.S. stocks, Global also is authorized to hold far more emerging market stocks. International Value is limited to 20% emerging markets exposure, while Global can hold 30%. In addition, Global is authorized to invest in debt securities. In additional Global will hold fewer stocks (30-50) than does International (40-60).

Bottom Line: If the past is any guide, Global is apt to be a fast starter, strong, disciplined but – as a result – streaky.