John Nuveen & Co., a Chicago-based mutual fund company best known for tax-free bond investments, is expanding into equity funds.
Nuveen said Tuesday that it will launch three equity funds by fall in conjunction with Institutional Capital Corp., also of Chicago.
Fixed-income specialists like Nuveen have been left in the cold as share prices of mutual fund management companies have heated up in recent months.
"The lack of a diversified product has hurt them. Their stock has gotten beaten," said Bruce Brewlington, an analyst at Putnam Lovell Thornton, San Francisco. Nuveen's common shares closed Tuesday at $25.125, up 62.5 cents.