“You marry up a hot asset class with really strong performance with great distribution, and that’s what happens,” Kim said.
Marketfield Struggles
Marketfield has declined 5.9 percent this year, according to data from Morningstar Inc. That performance is worse than about 95 percent of long-short equity funds, according to Morningstar. Aronstein said in an interview that bets on growth in developed markets were to blame.
“Our performance has not been any good this year,” he said by phone. “The market has indicated that it’s more concerned with the likelihood of weakness.”
Aronstein said he expects the economy to strengthen longer- term. The fund’s biggest picks at the end of March included Alcoa Inc., Facebook Inc. and Bank of Ireland, according to the company’s website.
Still, Marketfield has gained an average of 12 percent over the past five years, beating about three-quarters of similar funds, according to Morningstar.
“The success of Marketfield has propelled them to the forefront of that particular area of the business, which happens to be the fastest-growing area of the business,” Greenwald said. “That has cast a halo, so to speak, on some of their other products as well.”
Asset Breakdown
About a third of New York Life’s $521 billion portfolio belonged to the life insurer’s general account at the end of March, and $100 billion was invested in mutual funds. At the end of 2008, about two-thirds of New York Life’s $224 billion in assets belonged to the general account.
Kim joined New York Life from Prudential Financial Inc. in 2008 as head of the investing unit, and became chief investment officer in 2011. This year, New York Life named separate CEOs to oversee third-party funds and the insurer’s general accounts, both reporting to Kim.