This is a firm in flux. Continued changes at MassMutual Investment Advisors, a unit of mutually owned life insurer MassMutual, underpin a renewed Average Parent rating.
MassMutual experienced a change at the top at the end of 2023 when Andrea Anastasio, after just 2.5 years as head of investment management, left the firm. Taking her place is Doug Steele, who had a similar role before Anastasio joined and then became head of product management. Steele is trimming the firm's strategy lineup, which is primarily managed by subadvisors, in the face of substantial net redemptions in recent years. Nine mutual funds have been liquidated or merged away in 2024 through mid-October, and five more, along with an entire target-date series, are slated to disappear by the end of January 2025. The firm will then have 37 remaining mutual funds plus another target-date fund series; this includes three municipal-bond funds launched in early 2024 as the firm looks to increase its focus on areas of the market where it believes that it can offer differentiated funds.
Steele plans to continue Anastasio's push into the wealth channel and expects to offer more variable annuities, which can be sold by the parent firm's large pool of insurance agents.
The firm's manager research team thus will likely have more managers to cover, but it is experienced and adequately staffed. However, the multi-asset team that oversees a number of mandates, including target-date funds, currently lacks a permanent replacement for Rick Schulitz, its longtime leader who left in April 2024.
Note: This share class' Parent Pillar rating is analyst-driven, as its Branding Name, MassMutual (Branding Name ID: BN000009DX), is covered by Morningstar Manager Research.
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