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Money Management Executive

Struggling Wireless, E-Business Sectors Force Turner to Merge Funds

July 05, 2001, 1:00 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

It appears that Turner Investment Partners of Berwyn, Pa. may have bet too heavily on the wireless communications and e-business to business sectors.

The firm is planning to merge its Wireless & Communications Fund with its B2B E-Commerce Fund due to a lack of investment opportunities in both sectors, according to a company proxy statement filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

' … we believed that the wireless and communications and B2B electronic commerce sectors were each substantial and robust enough to support a separate mutual fund that concentrated its investments in either of these sectors,' wrote Stephen Kneely, president of Turner Investment Partners, in the firm's proxy statement to shareholders. 'Because of recent downturns in both of these sectors, we have concluded that, although there are still substantial investment opportunities in each sector, there are not enough viable issuers to support separate concentrated mutual funds.'

Shareholders in the Wireless & Communications Fund are being asked to approve the merger while shareholder in the B2B E-Commerce Fund are being asked to approve a change in that fund's investment policy as well as its name. Turner Investment Partners wants to rename the B2B E-Commerce Fund the New Enterprise Fund and change the fund's investment policy to allow it to invest less than 25% of its assets in companies in the electronic business to business sector.

As of March 31, the Turner Wireless & Communications Fund had $5.57 million in assets while the Turner B2B E-Commerce Fund had $3.32 million, according to the proxy.

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