Tweedy, Browne & Company, the legendary investors who were Warren Buffett’s brokers in the 1960’s and 1970’s, have announced today that they are re-opening the Tweedy, Browne Value Fund (TWEBX). Their Global Value Fund (TBGVX) will remain closed.

Partners of Tweedy Browne, either past or present, have worked closely with some of the legends of value investing.

Tom Knapp, who was a partner at Tweedy Browne until the 1980s, both studied under Ben Graham and worked for Ben’s investment firm, The Graham-Newman Corporation. Warren Buffett is quoted as saying Benjamin Graham’s book, The Intelligent Investor, is “By far the best book on investing ever written.”

Walter Schloss, another alumnus of Graham-Newman, has made his office at Tweedy Browne since he set up his private investment partnership in 1955. From 1956 - 1996, the Walter Schloss partnership average return was 17% a year.

Christopher Browne, a managing partner of the firm is the author of the highly successful “The Little Book of Value Investing“.

And as we mentioned earlier, Tweedy Browne was the primary broker for Warren during his purchase of stock in Berkshire Hathaway.

Yet, we regret that we cannot recommend purchasing the Tweedy, Browne Value Fund.

As you can see from the chart below, which was taken from the Tweedy Browne website, the returns for the last 1, 5, and 10 years have not been great. In fact, you would have done better in many years had you invested in an S&P 500 Index Fund.