Lord Abbett Boosts Muni Team With Hire of McDonnell Portfolio Manager

Money manager Lord Abbett & Co. added another member to its municipal bond team with the hiring of Daniel Vande Velde as a portfolio manager Monday. Vande Valde will report to Daniel Solender, director of muni bond management.“As a firm, Lord Abbett has been growing the municipal side of the business for a couple of years, now,” Solender said. “So, we have been hiring experienced professionals in anticipation of further growth down the road.”Vande Velde will move to the New York area from Chicago, where he has worked as a portfolio manager at McDonnell Investment Management LLC since 1997. He started in the muni industry in 1990 at Van Kampen Investments. Vande Velde will focus on investment-grade municipal securities, but no further details are available as prospectuses have yet to be altered to reflect his new position.Lord Abbett recently hired another muni veteran, Marybeth Leithead, who joined in Oct. 11 and will also act as portfolio manager.“We are targeting growth in all the different areas we currently manage funds, in high-yield, investment-grade national and state-specific, as well as our separately managed accounts,” Solender said. “The main thing is that we have been enhancing our group for growth. We have rounded out the team and added to our capabilities in municipal bond investment with these two recent hires — they help us build for the future.” Lord Abbett currently has six portfolio managers in its muni bond team, including Solender, its leader. The firm has more than $9 billion in tax-free assets under management. Sept. 30, 2005, it had roughly $5 billion.Morningstar Inc. says the fund family has about 5.5% of its mutual fund assets in municipal bonds.