Third Avenue Management History

History

A pioneer in modern-value investing

For over twenty five years, Third Avenue Management has consistently pursued a fundamental, bottom-up approach to deep value and distressed investing. Since 2002, Third Avenue Management has partnered with Affiliated Managers Group, a publicly traded asset manager that has invested in a diverse stable of boutique asset management firms.  This partnership allowed Third Avenue to extend ownership rights to its senior professionals, including key members of the investment team, providing a clear and transparent succession plan for the Firm and all of its principals. Today, Third Avenue Management manages assets across four core strategies — Value, Small-Cap, Real Estate and International Real Estate – which are available to investors through ‘40Act mutual funds, institutional separately managed accounts and a Real Estate Value Fund UCITS for non-U.S. investors.

Invest with TAM
Funds Daily Price
Get Fund Alerts

Guided by an adherence to price consciousness and a deep understanding of underlying business fundamentals and asset values, Third Avenue rarely, if ever, invests alongside the galloping herds.

Martin J. Whitman

Founder

1986

Firm is founded by legendary value investor Martin J. Whitman. After a career of advising companies and investors through MJ Whitman Inc., a registered broker dealer, Mr. Whitman created a separate registered investment adviser. Initially dedicated to individual accounts, this would set the platform for eventual launch of mutual funds and other investment vehicles.

1990

Third Avenue Value Fund (‘TAVFX’) is launched including the Value Equity strategy separately managed account offering.

“Cheap means an acquisition price for a common stock that appears to represent a substantial discount from what the common stock would be worth were the company a private business or a takeover candidate.” – Martin J. Whitman

1997

Third Avenue Small-Cap Value Fund (TASCX) is launched including the Small-Cap Equity strategy separately managed account offering.

“Third Avenue believes that the strict going concern approach is utterly unrealistic. Most companies whose securities are publicly traded will always combine elements of the going concern and elements revolving around the conversion of corporate resources to other uses, other ownership, other control, and other financing or refinancing.” – Martin J. Whitman

1998

Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund (TAREX) is launched including the Real Estate Equity strategy separately managed account offering.

“The Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund was launched with the view that real estate can oftentimes be purchased a lot cheaper on Wall Street than Main Street.”

“The underlying problem with going along with the generally recognized consensus is that the investor tends to buy what is popular when it is most popular. In other words, the investor has to pay up.” – Martin J. Whitman

2001

Launch of Third Avenue International Value Fund (TAVIX).

“In common stock investing, the sole, or almost sole, focus is on buying into well-financed companies at steep discounts from readily ascertainable NAV where there are reasonable prospects for double digit NAV growth over the next five years or so.” – Martin J. Whitman

2002

Affiliated Managers Group (“AMG”) purchases a majority interest in Third Avenue Management. This is the first step in a succession strategy and kept day to day management within the firm.

“Simply stated, we are attempting to identify securities which are available in the public markets, at valuations significantly below their private market value, with a low probability of permanent capital loss over our long-term investment horizon.” – Martin J. Whitman

2009

Third Avenue Management launches UCITS funds allowing non-US investor’s access to Third Avenue Funds.

2014

Third Avenue launches “Value Select” strategy which is a focused investment strategy investing in 10-20 companies. This strategy is available to qualified institutional investors directly though a customized separate account structure.

2015

TAVFX celebrates 25 years.

“The Third Avenue Funds use a balanced approach to analysis, initially measuring the quality of resources in a business, as well as the quantity of resources acquired relative to market prices.” – Martin J. Whitman

2017

TASCX celebrates 20 years.

2018

Third Avenue Funds launch a Z share class. This class is a free of any load and is available to investors with $250,000 minimum.

2018

Third Avenue International Value Fund (‘TAVIX’) merges with Third Avenue Value Fund (‘TAVFX’). This merger was a result of the global nature of the Third Avenue Value Fund and focuses on finding and investing in opportunities across market capitalization and geographies.

2018

TAREX celebrates 20 years.

“With nearly twenty years of performance, we think that the case for Third Avenue’s unique approach to investing in real estate securities has been made.”

2018

Third Avenue launches “Real Estate Value Select” and “Small-Cap Value Select” strategies, each a concentrated portfolio of 10-20 companies. These strategies are available to qualified institutional investors directly though a customized separate account structure.

2019

Partnered with Fund Vantage multi-series trust. This transition to a multi-series trust allows fund shareholders to benefit from certain expense sharing and operational efficiencies, while joining a shared governance structure.

2020

Third Avenue expands its Real Estate platform with the addition of the Third Avenue International Real Estate Value Fund (“REIFX”). Along with the new fund, Third Avenue also establishes a regional office in Austin, TX and adds analytical resources to support its growth.

“For nearly three decades, Third Avenue has specialized in making contrarian investments into the securities of asset-rich companies and supporting those enterprises over the long-term. By expanding the Firm’s footprint, and adding further analytical resources to support our efforts in assisting real estate-related businesses that have been adversely impacted by recent events, Third Avenue will be uniquely placed in its pursuit of long-term wealth creation for its stakeholders.”

Third Avenue Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.  Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Third Avenue Funds are offered by prospectus only.  The prospectuses and summary prospectuses are available on this website or by calling (800) 443-1021.  Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing.