Eaton Vance history

By 1929, the firm had four different funds — the Accumulation Fund and Management Fund A, B and C.

Under Vance's direction, the company created and managed several investment funds, including the Stock Fund, founded in 1931 to invest primarily in corporate common stocks.

In 1932, the company formed two funds, the Balanced Fund that sought capital growth through a blend of holdings in bonds and preferred and common stock, and the Income Fund as a general investors trust.

1937: Eaton & Howard moves from 1 Federal Street, Boston, to 24 Federal Street.

1940-50s: For over two decades, Vance, Sanders sponsors an annual mutual fund conference in Boston as well as sales and training seminars throughout the country for the growing mutual fund industry.

1944: Vance, Sanders & Company, a partnership, is formed by Henry T. Vance and David T. Sanders.

1959: Vance, Sanders & Company becomes a publicly traded company, and also acquires an economic interest in Boston Management & Research, a mutual fund management company.

During its course of existence, the company formed several funds, including the Growth Fund in 1962; it invested primarily in common stocks of companies that enjoyed aggressive growth.

The company also created the Special Fund in 1967 as a diversified fund comprising securities that appeared to have potential for substantial capital appreciation.

1968: Eaton & Howard forms Investors Bank & Trust Company to serve its investment counsel clients and the company's mutual funds.

1972: Massachusetts Financial Services, Inc., which manages Massachusetts Investors Trust and other mutual funds, decides to create an internal distribution department and not to renew its sales contract with Vance, Sanders & Company to distribute its funds, ending an almost-50-year relationship.

To expand its market niche, in 1975 the Special Fund acquired the Foundation Stock Fund, Inc. of St Louis, Missouri.

1978: Vance, Sanders launches Nautilus Fund, a closed-end fund, which invests a portion of its capital in emerging private companies such as Apple Computer and Compaq.

In 1979, the firm was bought by Vance Sanders & Company and became Eaton & Howard, Vance Sanders Inc.

On February 20, 1981, the reconstituted company then formed Eaton Vance Corp. as a holding company, and incorporated in the state of Maryland to operate other businesses in real estate, oil and gas, precious metals, and investment counseling services.

By the end of 1983, Eaton Vance was managing 23 mutual funds and numerous individual and company accounts with over $2.3 billion in their accounts.

The passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1984, however, posed substantial difficulties for the mutual fund industry's tax-managed funds by closing several tax loopholes.

The growing popularity of tax-exempt funds stemmed from nervous investors eschewing the stock market following the October 1987 stock market crash as well as others seeking tax relief or fearing rising state and federal income taxes. As a result of these trends, Eaton Vance's small Municipal Bond Fund L.P. grew about 20 percent in 1987 to $63 million.

By 1988, Eaton Vance had more than $6 billion under management.

In 1990, the company began leveraging the $2 billion fund by selling debt obligations at low interest rates and reinvesting the proceeds in higher yielding bank loans.

In 1992, the company reported an operating loss to the IRS, adding about $16 million beyond the $63 million in deferred taxes listed as liabilities on its balance sheet.

By 1993 more than 60 banks were selling Eaton Vance funds.

Eaton Vance initially purchased a 6 percent stake in Lloyd George, which it later increased to 24 percent in 1995.

1996: In November 1996, Jim Hawkes is made president and CEO of Eaton Vance, and two years later also becomes chairman.

Despite the restructuring not showing up to be fruitful, by 1997, the company was managing $14.7 billion in assets most of them coming from overseas including Greater China, Greater India, and some emerging markets.

1999: Eaton Vance moves from 24 Federal Street to 255 State Street.

Parametric parted ways with Pacific Mutual in 2001 and went independent.

A third major acquisition occurred in mid-2003, when Eaton Vance obtained a majority interest in Parametric Portfolio Associates.

2004: Eaton Vance’s investment counsel business is strengthened by the migration of Scudder Private Investment Counsel, then a unit of Deutsche Bank AG, to the company under the leadership of G. West (“Westy”) Saltonstall.

By September 2007, the firm owned $158.1 billion in assets under management.

2009: Eaton Vance moves from 255 State Street to Two International Place.

June 18, 2012: Eaton Vance acquires a 49% interest in Hexavest, a Canadian manager of global equity and tactical asset allocation strategies.

December 2, 2014: Eaton Vance receives approval from the SEC to offer exchange-traded managed funds (ETMFs), the first actively managed exchange-traded products that do not require full-transparency of portfolio holdings and trading activity.

In 2017, Eaton Vance purchased Calvert Investments, which provides mutual funds focused on socially responsible investing.

On October 8, 2020, Morgan Stanley announced they were purchasing Eaton Vance for $7 billion.