City National Rochdale Hires Municipal High-Yield Bond Team, Plans to Open New Chicago Office

CHICAGO, March 11, 2016 -- City National Rochdale, a subsidiary of City National Bank, announced today that it has hired a new high-yield municipal bond team that includes a senior portfolio manager and two senior analysts for its City National Rochdale Municipal High Income Fund and expects to open a new Chicago office in April.

William D. Black joins as senior portfolio manager and Brian Winters and Doug Gibbs have joined as senior credit analysts. All three are formerly from Invesco Ltd.

“We are pleased that this talented and experienced team with a distinguished track record of success has joined City National Rochdale,” said Garrett D’Alessandro, chief executive officer at City National Rochdale in New York, which manages nearly $28 billion in assets. “Our municipal high-yield bond fund has been an attractive investment for our clients and we are looking forward to having our own high yield municipal team at City National Rochdale leading this important investment strategy for our clients.”

The City National Rochdale Municipal High Income Fund, which was started on December 30, 2013, had $755.6 million in assets (as of December 31, 2015). The fund is currently sub-advised by outside manager Waddell & Reed, but will be managed by City National Rochdale’s new team starting April 1.

“City National Rochdale has offered its clients a robust municipal capability for many years," said Greg Kaplan, the director of fixed income at City National Rochdale, which manages more than $17 billion in fixed income assets. "We are very excited to add more depth with one of the most experienced and talented teams in the municipal high-yield space.”

For an image of the team:  https://www.cnb.com/PublishingImages/gibbs-winters-black.jpg

William D. Black, with more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, was named the senior portfolio manager for the City National Rochdale Municipal High Income Fund.

Black was formerly with Invesco, where he was co-lead portfolio manager for the $7.5 billion Invesco High Yield Municipal Fund from 2008 until December 2015. From 1998 until 2008 he was a municipal bond analyst specializing in high yield securities at Van Kampen Investments Inc. and Invesco (after it acquired Van Kampen). Prior to joining Van Kampen, he was an investment banker specializing in municipal bonds, beginning in 1984.

Black earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Public Policy from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, specializing in Finance and Public Management. He has received numerous awards from his peers for his credit work, was the keynote speaker for the National Federation of Municipal Analysts 2014 High Yield Municipal conference, and has been featured often in the media. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute, and is also a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Brian Winters, with more than 26 years of experience, will be responsible for high-yield municipal credit analysis. Prior to joining City National Rochdale, he served as senior fixed-income analyst with Invesco, where he was a senior member of the municipal credit team responsible for investment analysis of high-yield municipal bonds. Winters began his career with Van Kampen Investments and later worked at Morgan Stanley, where he focused on municipal and corporate credit analysis.

Winters received his Masters of Science in Finance from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and a Masters Degree in Economics from the Graduate School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, both at DePaul University. He also received a Bachelor in Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, and the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society.

Douglas Gibbs, with more than 23 years of experience in the financial industry, will be responsible for municipal credit research. Prior to joining City National Rochdale, he served as a senior analyst for Invesco, where he was responsible for the acquisition and surveillance of non-rated and below-investment grade municipal credits for both Invesco open-end mutual funds and closed-end funds. Prior to that, he worked as an investment grade municipal bond analyst at Van Kampen Investments, where he was responsible for credit analysis for both Van Kampen mutual funds and unit investment trusts.

Gibbs holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MBA with a concentration in finance from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University. He is a member of the Chicago Municipal Analysts Society.

All three are expected to work in the new City National Rochdale Chicago office, which will be located at 225 West Washington, 14^th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606.

The City National Rochdale Municipal High Income Fund typically invests in medium- and lower-quality bonds, which are bonds that are rated BBB+ or lower by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“Standard & Poor’s”), are comparably rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) or, if unrated, are determined by the fund’s sub-advisor to be of comparable quality.

About City National Rochdale
City National Rochdale specializes in personalized portfolio management for high-net worth individuals, families, and foundations, and provides clients with service that relates all investment decisions to each client’s personal benchmark. City National Rochdale, with offices in Beverly Hills, New York, Grand Rapids, San Francisco and Houston, currently manages $27.8 billion in assets (as of 12/31/15) and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of City National Bank. City National Rochdale is an affiliate of City National Bank, which is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. For more information, visit www.cnr.com.

About City National Bank
With $36.4 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 75 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville and Atlanta.  In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $53.9 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies.  RBC serves more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 38 other countries. For more information about City National, visit the company’s website at cnb.com.

DISCLOSURES:
An investor should consider carefully the fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. The full or summary prospectus contains this and other important information about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling 800-245-9888. Please read it carefully before investing.

The Investment Manager for the fund is City National Rochdale, LLC, a subsidiary of City National Bank. The fund is distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SIDCO), 1 Freedom Valley Drive, Oaks, PA 19456. SIDCO is not affiliated with City National Rochdale, LLC, City National Bank, or any of their affiliates.

Investing involves risk including loss of principal. Bonds and bond funds are subject to interest rate risks and will decline in value as interest rates rise. Investing in securities that are not investment grade offers a higher yield but also carries a greater degree of risk of default or downgrade and are more volatile than investment grade securities, due to the speculative nature of their investments. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s income will be exempt from federal or state income taxes. Capital gains, if any, are subject to capital gains tax. Income from municipal bonds may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. Diversification does not protect against market loss.

Media Contact:
Debora Vrana, City National Bank, 213.673.7631
[email protected]