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After 26 year, the legendary Sequoia Fund will reopen.

Since its inception in 1970, Sequoia has returned more than three times that of the S&P 500. An investor who put $1,000 into the fund at inception would today have a little more than $200,000, compared to about $63,000 in an S&P 500 fund, according to Morningstar Inc.

Sequoia's reopening comes amid a similar move by several other funds, most noticeably the Longleaf Partners Fund, which reopened this year.

Sequoia is managed by New York-based Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., which was co-founded by Mr. Ruane, a friend of Mr. Buffet. In 1970, when Mr. Buffett was liquidating his investment partnership, he advised clients to sign with Sequoia. Mr. Ruane died two years ago, and Mr. Goldfarb became chairmman in 2005.

The fund's managers hope reopening will infuse fresh blood into its client universe.

They said their shareholders have aged since the fund was closed in 1982, "to the point that attrition has become an issue." Its assets are down 2.4% at the end of last year, even though the fund had a positive 8.4% return. The S&P 500 was up 5.5% in 2007.

Posted by edelfenbein at April 26, 2008 7:20 PM