Portfolio

The Willamette Funds of Portland, Ore., is planning to introduce a new fund that will invest in companies that have received venture capital financing, according to a preliminary prospectus filed Jan. 19 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A significant number of investors in retirement are planning to increase their contributions to their 401(k) plans and become more aggressive in their allocations in 2001, according to a recent survey by Fidelity Investments of Boston.

New York Life Investment Management of Parsippany, N.J. has announced the launch of the Eclipse Funds, a fund family made up of 18 no-load funds to be distributed through fee-based financial planners and wrap programs.

Nuveen Investments of Chicago plans to introduce the first exchange-traded funds to track U.S. Treasury indexes, according to the company. The five new funds, called Fixed Income Trust Receipts, will be based on indexes of one, two, five and 10-year treasury issues and 20-year STRIPs - separately-traded registered interest and principal securities, Nuveen said.

State Farm Insurance of Bloomington, Ill. has announced that it has begun offering 10 State Farm mutual funds in North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Kansas. State Farm Insurance plans to offer the mutual funds to customers throughout the United States by March, according to the company.

Aetna Funds, a division of Aeltus Investment Management of Hartford, Conn. will add a sixth fund to its Principal Protection Funds series of guaranteed mutual funds in April 2001, according to Aetna.

Berger Funds of Denver announced that it is revising the investment strategy of the Berger Growth and Income Fund. The fund, which will be renamed the Berger Large Cap Growth Fund, will no longer seek income as part of its investment objective, and will concentrate solely on investment growth within the large cap market, according to the announcement.

Enterprise Group of Funds of Atlanta has announced plans to introduce a mutual fund focused on corporate takeovers. Enterprise will launch the Enterprise Mergers and Acquisitions Fund in the first quarter of 2001, the company announced.

PNC Advisors, the high net worth wealth management division of PNC Financial Services of Pittsburgh, has filed with the SEC to launch a new family of funds of funds using the funds and investment capabilities of its investment advisory affiliate BlackRock, Inc. of New York. The funds will cater to the needs of affluent investors.

The past year was one in which fund alternatives - from managed separate accounts and online portfolio products to hedge funds and exchange-traded funds - earned respect, if somewhat grudgingly, from the fund industry.