SEI Funds Receive Global Recognition in 2017 OAK

OAKS, Pa., April 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC ) last week announced it received the “Best Group Over Three Years” award in the “Equity Small Company” category at the 2017 Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards in the United Kingdom.  The award recognizes the excellent risk-adjusted performance across SEI’s range of equity funds, which are included in Lipper’s universe of over 3,500 funds provided by over 400 asset managers.

“The UK market is important to SEI, and this award brings valuable recognition as we continue to grow our global presence,” said Kevin Barr, Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Management Unit at SEI. “Our Strategic Portfolio Funds utilize our equity funds and are designed to help investors achieve goals at every stage of life, which is the very core of our goals-based approach.”

“This award is a reflection of the strength of both SEI’s investment process and philosophy, as well as the depth of talent at SEI,” said Jason Collins, Global Head of Equities at SEI. “The ability to add value for investors through our active portfolio management and manager-of-managers approach is the foundation of our investment programs.”

To qualify for an asset class group award, small groups must have at least three distinct portfolios in one of the asset classes – equity, bond, or mixed-asset. SEI’s award-winning equity portfolio range includes regional and global funds; small, mid, and large cap; as well as global managed volatility and smart beta solutions. These funds are actively managed and are core components of SEI’s Goals-Based Strategic Portfolio Funds. 

Last month, two of SEI’s mutual funds were recognized in the US as 2017 Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards  winners at the Lipper Alpha Forum & Fund Awards in New York City. Lipper measures the winners by their risk-adjusted returns over multiple periods. Award winners are rewarded for consistency over time, including the top three-year, five-year and 10-year funds, as well as trophy winners. SEI’s Institutional Investments Trust Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund (SDLAX) was recognized in the Alternative Global Macro Funds Class in the three-year and five-year category, in universes of 71 and 47 funds, respectively, and awarded a trophy for winning in more than one time period. SEI’s Institutional Managed Global Managed Volatility Fund (SVTAX) was recognized in the Global Multi-Cap Core Funds Class in the three-year category in a universe of 48 funds.

SEI’s SIIT Core Fixed Income Fund (SCOAX) was ranked #1 Intermediate-Term Bond fund in its universe of 975 Intermediate-Term Bond Funds by US News and World Report for the one year period ending January 31, 2017. The SIMT Core Fixed Income Fund (TRLVX) was ranked 15 ^th in its universe of 975 Intermediate-Term Bond Funds by US News and World Report for the one year period ending January 31, 2017.

Additionally, SEI Investments Canada Company recently received Fundata’s FundGrade A+ ^TM Award for two of its funds for the 2016 calendar year. The SEI Global Managed Volatility Fund, which the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC) includes in the “Global Equity” category, was recognized out of 801 funds in this category. The SEI U.S. High Yield Bond Fund, which the CIFSC includes in the “High Yield Fixed Income” category, was recognized out of 237 funds. The FundGrade A+ Award is given annually to investment funds and their managers who have shown consistent, outstanding, risk-adjusted performance through the year.

Performance for the Global Managed Volatility Fund, Class P for the period ended March 31, 2017, is as follows: 11.3% (1 year), 10.3% (3 year), 13.7% (5 year) 13.7 % (since inception March 30, 2012). U.S. High Yield Bond Fund, Class P for the period ended March 31, 2017, is as follows: 17.6% (1 year), 9.0% (3 year), 10.9 % (5 year) 9.9 % (since inception September 11, 2009).

About SEI SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC ) is a leading global provider of investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions that help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of December 31, 2016, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages or administers $751 billion in hedge, private equity, mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including $283 billion in assets under management and $468 billion in client assets under administration. For more information, visit seic.com.

Lipper Awards Methodology For a detailed explanation, please review the Lipper Leaders methodology documents on the Lipper Leaders Information page.

I mportant Information Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  Investing involves risk including loss of principal.

To determine if the Funds are an appropriate investment for you, carefully consider the investment objectives, risk factors and charges and expenses before investing.  This and other information can be found in the US-registered Funds’ summary and full prospectuses, which may be obtained by calling 1-800-DIAL-SEI.  Read it carefully before investing.

For those SEI US mutual funds which employ the ‘manager of managers’ structure, SEI Investments Management Corporation (SIMC) has ultimate responsibility for the investment performance of the Funds due to its responsibility to oversee the sub-advisers and recommend their hiring, termination and replacement.  SIMC is the adviser to the SEI US mutual funds, which are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SIDCo). SIMC and SIDCo are wholly owned subsidiaries of SEI Investments Company (SEI).

Asset allocation may not protect against market risk. Bonds and bond funds will decrease in value as interest rates rise. High-yield securities may be more volatile, be subject to greater levels of credit or default risk and may be less liquid and more difficult to sell at an advantageous time or price to value than higher-rated securities of similar maturity. International investments may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuation in currency values, from difference in generally accepted accounting principles or from economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging market involve heightened risks related to the same factors as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. REIT investments are subject to changes in economic conditions, credit risk and interest rate fluctuations.

Due to its investment strategies, the Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund may buy and sell securities frequently. The use of leverage can amplify the effects of market volatility on the Fund's share price and may also cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not otherwise be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations. Commodity-linked investments and derivatives may be more volatile and less liquid than direct investments in the underlying commodities themselves. Commodity-related equity returns can also be affected by the issuer's financial structure or the performance of unrelated businesses. The Fund’s use of futures contracts, forward contracts, options and swaps is subject to market risk, leverage risk, correlation risk and liquidity risk.  With short sales, you risk paying more for a security than you received from its sale.  Short sales losses are potentially unlimited and the expense involved with the shorting strategy may negatively impact the performance of the fund.

The SEI Equity Funds (which won the “Best Group Over Three Years” award in the “Equity Small Company” category at the 2017 Thomson Reuters Lipper Fund Awards) and the Strategic Portfolio Funds are Irish domiciled UCITS Funds which are managed by SEI Global Investments, Ltd (“SIGL”) and distributed by SEI Investments (Europe) Ltd (“SIEL”). SIGL and SIEL are wholly owned subsidiaries of SEI. The Shares of these Funds have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 of the United States of America (as amended) (the “1933 Act”) or the securities laws of any of the States of the United States. The Shares may not be offered, sold or delivered directly or indirectly in the United States its territories or possessions or to or for the account or benefit of any U.S. Person as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act (“U.S. Person”).

SEI Investments Canada Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of SEI Investments Company, is the Manager of the SEI Funds in Canada.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments.  Please read the prospectus before investing.  The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in security value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns.  Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

About the Fundata FundGrade™ methodology The objective of FundGrade is to rank and grade Canadian investment funds, on a monthly basis, against their peers using risk-adjusted performance metrics. Letter grades from A to E are used. Each month, FundGrade ratings are allocated as follows: 'A' is used for the top 10%; 'B' for the next 20%; 'C' for the middle 40%; 'D' for the next 20%; and 'E' for the bottom 20%. Ratings change on a monthly basis. The FundGrade rating system incorporates up to 10 years of history and uses three risk-adjusted performance metrics that are well known and widely accepted in the investment industry: (1) Sharpe Ratio—a measure of a fund's excess return relative to total risk. It is calculated by subtracting the risk-free rate from the fund's return and dividing by the standard deviation. (2) Sortino Ratio—a measure of a fund's excess return relative to downside risk. It is calculated by subtracting the minimum acceptable return from the fund's return and dividing by the downside deviation. (3) Information Ratio—a measure of a fund's active return relative to its tracking error. It is calculated by subtracting the benchmark return from the fund's return and dividing by the standard deviation of the difference between the return of the fund and the return of the benchmark.

See www.fundata.com/images/FundataFundgradeMethodology.pdf  for specific details of FundGrade's ranking algorithm. To make the grades relevant, funds are only measured against similar investment products with comparable investment mandates. FundGrade uses the fund classification standards that have been defined by the Canadian Investment Funds standards Committee (CIFSC). Funds are ranked and graded within CIFSC categories.

About the FundGrade A+ Methodology The FundGrade A+ Rating is a supplemental calculation to the FundGrade ratings and is performed at the end of each calendar year. Eligible funds must have received a FundGrade rating for each month in the previous calendar year. A score is assigned to each monthly FundGrade rating, as follows: A grade = 4; B grade = 3; C grade = 2; D grade = 1; E grade = 0. For each fund a 'GPA-style' calculation is made by adding up the values for the monthly scores and dividing by 12. Any fund with a GPA of 3.5 or higher receives a FundGrade A+. For specific details of FundGrade's ranking algorithm, see  www.fundata.com/images/FundataFundgradeMethodology.pdf . FundGrade A+ was designed to identify not only the best-performing funds, but also the most consistent.

Company Contact: Dana Grosser SEI +1 610-676-2459 dgrosser@seic.com Media Contact: Leslie Wojcik SEI +1 610-676-4191 lwojcik@seic.com