American Century Investments Hires Eduardo Repetto And Patrick Keating To Launch Avantis Investors™

New Suite of Investment Solutions

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Jun 25, 2019, 10:20 ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global asset manager American Century Investments announced the hiring of Eduardo Repetto Ph.D. as chief investment officer and Patrick Keating as chief operating officer to develop a new suite of broadly diversified, tax-efficient and cost-effective equity and fixed income solutions based on a time-tested theoretical and empirical framework, updated with the latest in academic and financial theory. Carrying the moniker "Avantis Investors," the new solutions will be designed by Repetto, who previously served as co-chief executive officer/chief investment officer of Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) until 2017. Keating also served in a variety of senior leadership roles at DFA, including chief operating officer, until he left the firm in 2017.

"Eduardo and Patrick bring new skills and capabilities that will benefit American Century clients around the world," said Jonathan Thomas, American Century's chief executive officer. "They are proven leaders who have delivered incredible growth and success by creating, honing and managing strategies informed by academic research and sound financial theories. We plan to leverage their tremendous knowledge and expertise to build unique systematic investment processes at Avantis Investors that we believe will form a solid basis for long-term asset allocation solutions."

Avantis Investors evokes the forward-looking and sophisticated methodology utilized by the new solutions. The new brand has its own website, www.AvantisInvestors.com, which will host detailed information about the solutions and the firm's thought leadership.

"Pat and I look forward to collaborating with American Century Investments on this expanded array of investment capabilities," said Repetto. "Our experience has shown us that investors are looking for reliable, diversified strategies that can add value over indexes and are cost-effective. That's what we plan to build."

Keating added, "We're very excited to create solutions that work for fiduciaries. American Century is building on its long 60-year track record of designing innovative investment services that help individuals and institutions plan their futures. We are also proud of our association through American Century with the Stowers Institute for Medical Research."

Once the registration process is completed, American Century plans to offer five equity strategies across market capitalization and geography in exchange traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund vehicles. The new strategies will seek to implement an effective and repeatable investment process that utilizes an academic-based framework that aims to identify securities with higher expected returns. The firm expects the new investment vehicles to launch later this year, with separate account formats also available.

Repetto's career with DFA spanned 17 years. He served as chief investment officer beginning in 2007 and co-chief executive officer starting in 2009, roles he held until his departure from DFA in 2017. Repetto earned a Ph.D. in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology, an MSc in engineering from Brown University and a Diploma de Honor in civil engineering from the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Prior to joining American Century, Keating was with DFA for 15 years and served as chief operating officer with responsibility for the firm's day-to-day business functions, including the management of growth plans and capital investment. Prior to that, he was chief executive officer and executive vice president and director of Assante Capital Management. Keating earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Winnipeg, Canada. He is a CPA (Canada), a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA Institute.

American Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting research that can improve human health and save lives. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,300 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; Los Angeles; London; Hong Kong; Sydney; Mountain View, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.5 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit www.americancentury.com.