San Francisco, Dec. 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forward (Forward Management, LLC) has announced that the Forward Select Income Fund (KIFYX - Institutional; FFSLX - Investor; KIFAX - A; KIFCX - C; FSIMX - Advisor) has reopened to new investors. The $1.5 billion fund had been soft closed due to inflows and market constraints. The fund, which launched in 2001, invests in preferred and senior securities in the commercial real estate sector with the goal of high current income and potential modest long-term capital growth.
Since the fund's soft close on March 30, 2012, certain beneficial conditions have developed in the real estate investment trust (REIT) preferred market, such as improved pricing and positive net new issuance, which will give the fund additional opportunities to pursue its investment objective. As investors continue to look for income alternatives, the fund is committed to finding some of the best opportunities in the real estate sector and is positioned to accept new inflows without diluting the characteristics of the underlying portfolio.
The fund's Institutional Class has a five-star Overall Morningstar Rating™ as of November 30, 2013, based on risk-adjusted returns. Its Institutional Class performance ranks number one among 41 funds for the one-year period, 31 funds for the three-year period and 23 funds for the five-year period, based on total return, in the newly-created Morningstar category for preferred stock funds as of November 30, 2013. The fund's lead portfolio manager Joel Beam is a veteran investor with more than 20 years of industry experience and is a nationally recognized authority on preferred and senior securities and commercial real estate markets. He has been featured in leading business and financial publications and the book Cash Is King: Investing in REIT Preferreds to Generate Long-term Income .
"We are happy that the developments in the REIT preferred space have allowed us to reopen the fund," said Joel Beam. "Our focus will continue to be on maintaining the quality of the fund's investments and protecting the interests of our shareholders."
For details about the status of a specific share class of Forward Select Income Fund on various investment platforms, please contact a Forward sales representative at (888) 312-4100.
About Forward
The world has changed, leading investors to seek new strategies that better fit an evolving global climate. Forward's investment solutions are built around the outcomes we believe investors need to be pursuing - non-correlated return, investment income, global exposure and diversification. With a propensity for unbounded thinking, we focus especially on developing innovative alternative strategies that may help investors build all-weather portfolios. An independent, privately held firm founded in 1998, Forward is the advisor to the Forward Funds. As of September 30, 2013, we manage more than $5.5 billion in a diverse product set offered to institutions, financial advisors and individual investors.
You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Forward Funds carefully before investing. A prospectus with this and other information may be obtained by calling (800) 999-6809 or by downloading one from www.forwardinvesting.com . It should be read carefully before investing.
Correlation is a statistical measure of how two securities move in relation to each other.
RISKS
There are risks involved with investing, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results, share prices will fluctuate and you may have a gain or loss when you redeem shares.
Borrowing for investment purposes creates leverage, which can increase the risk and volatility of a fund.
Concentration in a particular industry will involve a greater degree of risk than a more diversified portfolio.
Derivative instruments involve risks different from those associated with investing directly in securities and may cause, among other things, increased volatility and transaction costs or a fund to lose more than the amount invested.
Investing in a non-diversified fund involves the risk of greater price fluctuation than a more diversified portfolio.
Investing in the real estate industry or in real estate-related securities involves the risks associated with direct ownership of real estate which include, among other things, changes in economic conditions (e.g., interest rates), the macro real estate development market, government intervention (e.g., property taxes) or environmental disasters. These risks may also affect the value of equities that service the real estate sector.
© 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating™ for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Forward Select Income Fund (Institutional Class) was rated against 31 U.S.-domiciled Morningstar Preferred Stock funds over the 3-year time period. With respect to these Morningstar Preferred Stock funds, Forward Select Income Fund (Institutional Class) received a Morningstar Rating of 5 stars for the three-year period. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Forward Funds are distributed by Forward Securities, LLC.
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©2013 Forward Management, LLC. All rights reserved.
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