Vanguard Overhauls Active Equity Lineup with T. Rowe Price Partnership

Vanguard is shaking up its active equity management by appointing T. Rowe Price as a new advisor for three flagship funds. The move signals a strategic shift in the investment giant’s multi-manager framework, resulting in the departure of two long-standing advisory firms and adjustments to specific fund expense ratios.

Corp and Tech·June 29, 2026·reads: 1,488

Vanguard Overhauls Active Equity Lineup with T. Rowe Price Partnership

The transition impacts the Vanguard Explorer Fund, the Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund (VVIF) Small Company Growth Portfolio, and the Vanguard Growth and Income Fund. Under the new arrangement, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings, LLC will exit its advisory roles for both the Explorer Fund and the VVIF Small Company Growth Portfolio, while Los Angeles Capital Management LLC will step down from the Growth and Income Fund.

Dan Reyes, Vanguard’s global head of investment product, characterized the partnership as a way to bolster the firm’s active management capabilities. T. Rowe Price plans to deploy a small- and mid-cap growth strategy for the Explorer and VVIF funds, emphasizing fundamental research alongside quantitative scoring. For the Growth and Income Fund, the firm will utilize a sector-weighting approach driven by internal analyst stock selection.

These adjustments come with minor shifts in cost structures. Vanguard expects the expense ratio for the Growth and Income Fund to rise by one basis point, reaching 0.40% for Investor Shares and 0.29% for Admiral Shares. The VVIF Small Company Growth Portfolio is also slated for a slight increase, moving from 0.29% to 0.32%. The Explorer Fund, however, will maintain its current expense ratio as Vanguard reallocates assets among its remaining advisors to sharpen the fund's growth-oriented focus.