|
Ariel Capital Management, LLC
Ariel Mutual Funds
Slow and steady wins the race
200 East Randolph Drive
Suite 2900
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-726-0140
Fax: 312-726-7473
Website: www.arielcapital.com
About Ariel
Patient Investing
At Ariel Capital Management, LLC, we've learned that one of life's greatest lessons also holds true when investing: slow and steady wins the race. Chasing the speedy and glamorous, the trendy or hot is not the surest way to reach a goal. Just like the fabled tortoise, the symbol of our firm, we value patience and persistence over the fleeting and flashy. Ours is not a tale of guesswork or speculation, but of diligence and focus.
A Focused Approach
Many firms spread themselves across the entire financial services spectrum, dabbling in a variety of enterprises, but mastering none. In order to achieve our goal of steady, superior growth of capital over time, we at Ariel have always preferred to concentrate our efforts on research and investing. This focused approach helps us deliver outstanding long-term financial results.
A Long-Term Track Record
Since 1983, we have concentrated our investment selection on small and medium-sized companies whose share prices are undervalued. Over the years, this focused strategy has enabled us to accumulate a wealth of knowledge. Our expertise has served our clients well through a variety of investment environments.
Our Mission
Our mission revolves around one word: Patience
In earnest pursuit of excellent performance and outstanding client service, patience is our over-arching virtue. By taking a long-term view, we are able to build our firm around these core values:
- Focus
As we strive to be the premier small and mid-cap investment firm, we will continue to grow with discipline and rigorous standards.
- Independent Thinking
Through voracious reading and active listening, we are armed with information that enables us to challenge conventional "wisdom," and stand out from the investing crowd.
- Teamwork
Our diverse and experienced professionals work together toward a common goal of excellence in every aspect of our business, and we live up to our committments. Through significant personal ownership in our firm, as well as in our mutual funds, our interests are squarely aligned with those of our valued clients. Moreover, we are committed to strengthening the neighborhoods and cities in which we live and work, practicing a hands-on model of corporate responsibility.
Our History
Founded in 1983 by John W. Rogers, Jr., Ariel Capital Management, LLC is a privately owned Chicago-based money management firm that has grown from 2 to over 100 employees with more than $15.5 billion in assets under management. In addition to managing separate accounts for corporate, public, union and non-profit organizations, Ariel Capital Management also serves as the investment adviser to the publicly-traded, no-load Ariel Mutual Funds.
Our equity separate account strategies invest primarily in small and medium-sized U.S. companies. Our flagship Ariel Fund represents the firm’s small/mid-cap value strategy and Ariel Appreciation Fund is managed with a pure mid-cap value strategy. We have managed small-cap value portfolios since the firm's inception and introduced our mid-cap value style in 1989.
We recently expanded our offerings to include Ariel Focus Fund, a new mid/large cap investment option. As a non-diversified fund, Ariel Focus Fund will invest in a limited number of companies—generally 20 stocks. Managed under the same time-tested patient investing philosophy which Ariel has been executing against for more than 23 years, Ariel Focus Fund enables us to apply Ariel’s distinctive investment approach across a broader spectrum of the market in a focused and exciting new way for our shareholders.
Patience serves as the core of our investment philosophy. The firm was built around the belief that patient investors will be rewarded—that wealth can be created by investing in great companies, selling at excellent prices whose true value would be realized over time. As such, we believe our long-term performance is driven by our disciplined and focused approach, our stock selection across industries where Ariel has proven expertise, our exhaustive investigative research process and our commitment to investing in quality businesses that are typically undervalued or ignored.
Given our commitment to identifying and realizing long-term value, it makes perfect sense that we have adopted the Tortoise, the victor in Aesop’s timeless fable, as our symbol, and the fable’s moral—slow and steady wins the race—as our creed.
Controlling interest of the firm is owned by John W. Rogers, Jr. and his family. However, as we feel that it is important to create an environment where employees share in both the rewards and responsibilities of ownership, Ariel’s employees also have an equity interest in the firm through restricted stock offerings, stock grant and stock option programs. As such, Ariel employees own a combined total of 86% of the firm. Remaining shares of Ariel Capital Management, LLC are owned by company directors and outside shareholders who helped finance the firm’s initial start-up costs and ongoing business development.
|
