Answer to: Why would a fund managment "team" create multiple different companies?

EPIC is private while EPCC is publicly traded. They also have different investment goals (one is debt oriented, the other is equity oriented). Both were established in 1940s, at the time incorporation was the main legal structure to run public companies and investment funds (since, we now have trusts and public partnerships as the two additional common options). It is not uncommon for financial management companies to have specialized funds, and they would usually be named and branded consistently with the parent management company branding. See for example Vanguard funds, State Street funds, etc.