Investors may not be impressed with AGF’s move to ask Harris Associates LP to step in where Brandes left off as manager the bulk of its assets, but FundMonitor.com analyst James Gauthier says it’s a good move for AGF.

AGF stock has dropped about 2.5% so far today on news of the appointment of Harris to run AGF’s International Value fund. But for “those of you that were waiting anxiously for this day before you made the final decision concerning these funds, here’s our advice – don’t sell,” Gauthier says in a report.

He suggests that AGF “has done a fantastic job of selecting replacements for Brandes and two of the new managers were right under their nose. We expect the transitions to be seamless and there should be virtually no style drift between Brandes and the announced managers.”

Although Gauthier concedes that, “It was a bit surprising that the assets of this fund were not divided among a few other management firms.” AGF CEO Blake Goldring suggested in a morning press conference that it has a solid agreement with Harris that would prevent it from pulling a Brandes.

Gauthier says that the Harris Oakmark Global fund is the likely model for AGF International Value. “The good news for investors is that Oakmark Global has prospered even more than the AGF fund during the recent times of trouble for the market. For instance during 2001 Oakmark Global surged ahead 27% in 2001 and is up 9% YTD while AGF International Value has posted returns of 1% and -3%, respectively, over the same time periods.”

As for the assets that are going to be run by Dublin-based AGF International Advisors, Gauthier says that its head, John Arnold, and co-manager Rory Flynn, “are highly skilled individuals and have the resources necessary to adequately manage a product such as this. Their expertise in Europe is evident but what is less well known is that they act as advisors for AGF’s Asian funds.”

“AGF Emerging Markets Value was a weak fund to begin with and the loss of Brandes will likely do nothing but help,” it says. The fund will be managed in-house by Patricia Perez-Coutts who joined AGF in 2001 and who currently oversees AGF Latin America, Gauthier notes. “We can’t comment on Perez-Coutts’ track record because it is so brief, but even average numbers would be an improvement on what the team at Brandes was able to achieve.”