Manager to help advisors provide clients with income-generating portfolios. Asset-management company Nuveen Investments has carved out a new group to support advisors with clients in search of diversified income and total-return strategies.

"We are excited about bringing a new level of support and dedicated service to this increasingly important area of investing," says Michael Forstl, leader of Chicago-based Nuveen's new Closed-End Fund and Structured Products Consulting group. "Closed-end funds and structured products can offer sophisticated solutions that address the growing need for regular and diversified sources of income and total return strategies for investors in or near retirement."

Definitions

Forstl, formerly director Nuveen Advisor Consultants' eastern division, leads a New York-based team that includes Steve Shelton, Phillip Gaechter and Cody Farmer.

Unlike mutual funds, which are "open-ended" in the sense that they allow new shares to be purchased, closed-end funds have a fixed number of shares outstanding and behave more like stocks or exchange-traded funds than mutual funds because they trade on an exchange and their price is determined by market demand after an initial public offering. Closed-end funds can trade below their net asset value or above it.

The NASD approximately defines structured products as "securities derived from, or based on a single security, a basket of securities, an index, a commodity, a debt issuance and/or a foreign currency." They usually consist of a note and a derivative, often an option. The note pays the interest at a set rate and schedule and the derivative establishes payment at maturity. Sometimes principal protection is built into the offering; sometimes it isn't.

"As [closed-end funds and structured products] continue to evolve, we look forward to working closely with advisors to ensure they are fully aware of the latest developments and best opportunities to satisfy the long-term investment needs of their clients," says Forstl.

Nuveen Investments -- parent company of Nuveen Asset Management (fixed income), NWQ (value equities), Tradewinds (global equities), Symphony Asset Management (alternatives, core equities and credit strategies) and growth-equity managers / Santa Barbara Asset Management (growth equities) and Rittenhouse -- manages about $162 billion in assets. -FWR

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