Portfolio

The investment adviser to the Internet Fund - a portfolio that returned better than 300 percent for the 12-month period ending Jan. 31 - is considering opening a new fund.

Deutsche Fund Management has introduced the DB Americas Bond Fund, a fund that will concentrate on fixed-income securities in the Americas and the Caribbean. The fund will be offered to non-US residents. Deutsche Fund Management will sell the fund through its own and other private banking groups around the world.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is offering a new fund which will invest primarily in companies whose employees are members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The SSgA IAM Shares Fund will invest approximately 66 percent of its assets in IAM-represented companies. The IAM represents 734,000 working and retired members.

John Hancock Funds has begun offering level-load shares for nine more of its mutual funds, bringing to 21 its funds with this pricing option. Instead of charging a sales commission at the time of purchase or when the shares are redeemed, level loads spread the cost over time.

John Nuveen & Co. of Chicago has introduced an investment portfolio of ten companies based on Fortune magazine's "America's Most Admired Companies" list. Fortune compiles this list of ten outstanding companies each year, interviewing more than 10,000 analysts, top executives and board directors to ask them their opinions of companies' financial soundness, long-term investment value and use of corporate assets. Fortune also looks for outstanding innovation, product or service quality, management quality and employee talent.

SunAmerica Asset Corp. has introduced the Tax Managed Equity Fund, designed to produce high total returns and low taxes by using an optimization model developed by sub-adviser J.P. Morgan. J.P. Morgan first began offering this strategy of reducing capital gains taxes to high-net-worth clients in the 1980s. Steven Neamtz, executive vice president of SunAmerica Asset Management, believes investors will increasingly look to minimize after-tax returns.

The IDS Mutual Fund Group, the proprietary mutual funds of American Express Financial Corporation, wants to change its name and increase some fees it charges investors.

The Mutual Fund Education Alliance will hold its seventh annual marketing seminar in San Francisco October 18-19th. The Alliance is based in Kansas City, Mo.

Vanguard has introduced the Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund, a no-load fund aimed at reducing taxes by investing in a diversified portfolio of low-cost, small-capitalization stocks that promise long-term capital growth and nominal current income.

Stein Roe of Chicago is taking public the Small Company Growth Fund, which is co-managed by Bill Garrison and Steve Saplopek. Their strategy is to invest in 120 to 150 stocks of firms that have substantial growth possibilities and strong management teams. Stein Roe launched the fund in 1996 as a multi-cap fund.