Aristotle Capital Management, LLC ("Aristotle"), a value-oriented investment management firm for institutional and high net worth clients, today announced the expansion of its investment team with the appointment of two seasoned investment professionals. Gregory D. Padilla, CFA and Alberto Jimenez Crespo, CFA have joined as portfolio managers.

From left to right: Alberto Jimenez Crespo, CFA and Gregory D. Padilla, CFA of Aristotle Capital Man ...

From left to right: Alberto Jimenez Crespo, CFA and Gregory D. Padilla, CFA of Aristotle Capital Management (Photo: Business Wire)

They will be based in Aristotle's Los Angeles office researching investment opportunities globally for the firm. Part of Aristotle's core investment philosophy is that companies must compete on a worldwide basis to best serve shareholders' interests.

"Greg and Alberto will be joining me on the portfolio management of Aristotle's Global and Global Opportunity strategies, including the Aristotle/Saul Opportunity Fund [Ticker: ARSOX]," said Howard Gleicher, CEO and Chief Investment Officer. "They bring invaluable experience and are an exceptional complement to our in-depth fundamental company research and long-term focus. Over the years, they have combed the globe for investments, collectively traveling to more than 60 countries and conducting due diligence on hundreds of companies. This knowledge will be of great benefit to our clients. As we continue to grow, it is imperative to find like-minded and experienced investment professionals who share our deep passion and unique philosophy for investing."

"We are thrilled to have Greg and Alberto join the team. Their depth of knowledge, particularly outside of the U.S., will bring additional global perspectives that will supplement our current efforts in the international space," said Geoff Stewart, co-Portfolio Manager of Aristotle's International Equity Strategy. "Their long-term view, patient and disciplined approach, and focus on the ultimate free cash flow generation of the businesses that we invest in fit well with the way Geoff and I invest internationally. The alignment of our philosophies is an ideal match," added Sean Thorpe, co-Portfolio Manager of the International Strategy.

Padilla and Jimenez were two of the original equity research analysts and portfolio managers at Tradewinds Global Investors, which experienced significant growth during their six-year tenure with assets under management increasing to $38.0 billion, an increase of more than 100 percent from the subsidiary's inception in 2006.

While at Tradewinds Global, the duo co-managed the Nuveen Tradewinds Global Resources Fund and were key senior members of the investment team that supported the Nuveen Tradewinds Global All-Cap Fund and Nuveen Tradewinds Value Opportunities Fund. During their tenure, the Funds were recognized in their respective categories by nationally known publications such as Bloomberg and won several awards by nationally known rating agencies such as Lipper.

More recently, Padilla and Jimenez were portfolio managers at Tampa, Florida-based Vinik Asset Management, which closed up shop after a long successful run and returned investors' money. Jeffrey Vinik, a renowned investor who founded Vinik Asset Management, once managed Fidelity's Fidelity Magellan Fund.

"After Vinik closed, we had planned to start our own fund. However, when the opportunity arose to join Aristotle, we believed it was a perfect fit and exactly what we wanted to achieve on our own, especially with the support of MetWest Ventures' platform and infrastructure behind it," Padilla and Jimenez said. "Aristotle is an employee-owned firm that has retained a boutique culture despite considerable and growing assets under management. At Aristotle, we can focus our full efforts on studying businesses and identifying global value opportunities, which is our true passion as well as our strength.

"We have long admired and respected the team at Aristotle. We are thrilled and honored to work alongside Howard, Geoff, and Sean, gifted, long-term focused value investors with a known reputation within the investment management industry. We, too, are long-term thinkers that take a private-equity approach to investing. Most importantly, we act as owners of the company, not short-term renters of a stock, and we strive to know our portfolio companies inside and out."

Padilla is a CFA® charterholder. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Arizona State University. Jimenez is also a CFA® charterholder and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Master of Science in Mineral Economics.

About Aristotle Capital Management

With offices in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, Aristotle Capital Management, LLC is a value-oriented investment management firm with a unique and highly disciplined approach focused on investing in high-quality companies. Investment decisions are based on our investment team's long collective experience, in-depth fundamental research and our ability to assess and act on change. Our long-term investment horizon is aligned with our clients' goals to grow assets and control risk. Aristotle offers multiple investment solutions including Domestic Value Equity, International Equity, Global Equity, and a Global Opportunity strategy. Our clients include public and ERISA funds, corporations, foundations, endowments, Taft-Hartley, charitable organizations and high net worth individuals. Please visit http://www.aristotlecap.com for more information.

About MetWest Ventures

MetWest Ventures was founded by Richard S. Hollander in 1992 with the vision of building fully independent and superior businesses by investing in outstanding management teams in the asset management business. Hollander formerly managed Drexel Burnham Lambert's West Coast investment grade fixed-income division, which oversaw all real estate and mortgage-related activities in addition to covering all West Coast banks and financial institutions.

Since its inception, MetWest Ventures has supported and provided assistance to partners who have managed assets for many of the largest U.S. and non-U.S. plan sponsors. MetWest has partnered with and invested in firms such as MetWest Asset Management, MetWest Capital Management, Post Advisory Group, and Wachovia Global Securities Lending.

MetWest Ventures' most recent undertakings are MetWest Realty Advisors, a commercial real estate private equity firm dedicated to the objective of achieving above market, risk-adjusted returns on investments in the commercial real estate space; West Gate Horizons Advisors, a registered investment adviser specializing in the management of floating rate senior secured loan portfolios for institutional investors; and Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser offering U.S., International and Global investment solutions to institutional and high net worth clients.

An investment in the Fund is subject to risks and you could lose money on your investment in the Fund.The principal risks of investing in the Fund include, but are not limited to, investing in foreign securities, emerging markets, short sales, derivatives, below investment grade bonds, convertible securities, and ETFs.

Foreign securities have additional risks including currency rate changes, political and economic instability, lack of comprehensive company information, less market liquidity, less efficient trading markets, and differing auditing controls and legal standards. Investments in emerging markets involve even greater risks.

The use of short sales and ETFs may cause the fund to have higher expenses than those of other equity funds. Short sales are speculative transactions and involve special risks, including a greater reliance on the investment team's ability to accurately anticipate the future value of a security. The Fund's losses are potentially unlimited in a short sale transaction. The Fund's use of short sales and futures contracts leverages the Fund's portfolio. The Fund's use of leverage can make the Fund more volatile and magnify the effect of any losses. There is no assurance that a leveraging strategy will be successful.

The Fund may invest in derivatives which can be highly volatile, illiquid, difficult to value, and changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate with the underlying securities or other securities held directly by the Fund.Such risks include gains or losses which, as a result of leverage, can be substantially greater than the derivatives' original cost. There is also a possibility that derivatives may not perform as intended which can reduce opportunity for gain or result in losses by offsetting positive returns in other securities the Fund owns.

Alpha is a measure of the portfolio's risk adjusted performance. When compared to the portfolio's beta, a positive alpha indicates better-than-expected portfolio performance and a negative alpha worse-than-expected portfolio performance.

Please consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus or summary prospectus that contains this and other information about the Fund is available by calling 1-866-661-6691 or visit aristotlefunds.com and should be read carefully prior to investing.

The Aristotle/Saul Opportunity Fund is distributed by IMST Distributors, LLC, located at Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100, Portland, Maine 04101.

Aristotle Capital Management, LLC
Robert R. Womack, Jr.
Managing Director
(310) 478-4005
rwomack@aristotlecap.com
or
Financial Profiles, Inc.
Tricia Ross
Senior Vice President
(310) 622-8226
tross@finprofiles.com