Value Fund Gets Strong Start

Published May 07, 2001, 1:00 a.m. EDT

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The Strategic Partners Focused Value Fund of Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J. raised $242 million in its six-week subscription period ending March 27, the company announced today.

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The funds subscription period was successful considering it was offered in a declining market, said a company spokesperson, Theresa Miller.

In this market were ecstatic because everyone else is talking about outflows, she said.

Last June, Prudential held a similar six-week subscription period for its Strategic Partners Focused Growth Fund and attracted $336 million, Miller said.

The Focused Value Fund is managed by Davis Selected Advisors of Tucson, Ariz. and Salomon Smith Barney of New York. The fund will be distributed through Prudential and Salomon Smith Barney, she said.
Prudential is also researching the benefits of providing investors with alternative investment vehicles such as portfolios that resemble hedge funds and fund-of-funds products, Miller said.

The research is part of an effort spurred by Prudential president David Odenath, who for the past 18 months has been redefining Prudential, reconfiguring its products and developing new ones, she said. For example, under Odenaths purview, the company has fired itself from some $6 billion in assets and handed those assets over to sub-advisors, Miller said.

Miller was not sure when Prudential might arrive at a decision about whether to offer the alternative products. She said the issue is further muddied by the fact that Prudential Investments parent company, the Prudential Insurance Company of America, is currently planning an IPO. The company filed with the SEC for an initial public offering on March 15