Harris Associates L.P. is a Chicago-based investment company that manages $47.8 billion in assets. The firm is known for managing the Oakmark mutual funds. The company also was the defendant in a lawsuit that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on in March 2010.
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Founded in 1976 as R.J. Levy, Harris Inc., the firm changed its name to Harris Associates in 1986.[1]
The company was purchased by New England Investment Cos. L.P. of Boston in 1995.[2] The company today is a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management.[3]
Harris Associates considers itself to be a value investor.[4]
In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Jones v. Harris Associates, a suit brought in federal court by a group of mutual fund investors against the firm. The mutual fund investors, who are investors in the Oakmark funds, claim that the funds have overpaid their advisor (Harris Associates), and that the fees that Harris Associates charges Oakmark investors are higher than the fees that Harris charges institutional clients like hedge funds.[5]
The suit previously had been thrown out by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 2008, with a judge who is a noted free-market backer, Richard Posner arguing that sometimes marketplaces need to be reined in.[6] The justices will rule by the end of the term in late June or early July.[7]
In March 2010, the Supreme Court unanimously vacated the Seventh Circuit's ruling and remanded the case.[8]
Harris Associates' noteworthy investment managers[9] include the following: