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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.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is implementing minor changes to the new Form ADV rules it adopted in September, which require investment advisers to file the form electronically, the SEC has announced.

Prudential Funds of Newark, N.J. has filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Washington D.C. seeking to merge its Prudential Government Securities Trust into the Prudential Government Income Fund.

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.

AMVESCAP of London announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase County Investment Management, an Australian institutional asset, from the National Australia Bank of Melbourne for approximately $60.47 million. County Investment Management has over $7.5 billion in assets under management. The deal, which is pending Australian regulatory approval, is expected to be completed early in 2001, according to the announcement.

When the Firstar Corporation of Milwaukee completes its acquisition of U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, the combined asset management unit will have approximately $50 billion in mutual fund assets under management, according to Strategic Insight of New York. So what can be expected once the merger is completed? Further expansion, according to Thomas Schreier, the asset management unit's newly-appointed CEO.

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.

Mutual Fund Investment Trust of New York has filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to merge the H&Q IPO & Emerging Company Fund, a series of Hambrecht & Quist Fund Trust of San Francisco, with Mutual Fund Investment Trust's newly-created Chase Vista H&Q IPO & Emerging Company Fund. The Hambrecht & Quist Group was recently acquired by The Chase Manhattan Bank of New York.

Centurion Funds of Phoenix, Ariz. has filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to do a one-for-three reverse split in its Centurion U.S. Contra Fund.

Overseas buyers of U.S. asset managers have pushed the number and prices of mergers and acquisitions to record levels this year.

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.

If there is a stock index to track, chances are good that there is an exchange-traded fund based on that index. So far, however, there is not an exchange-traded fund that tracks a socially-responsible index of stocks. But, that may soon change, according to industry analysts and executives.

Legg Mason of Baltimore has announced it will acquire 100 percent of the privately-held stock of Barrett Associates of New York for an undisclosed amount over the next five years. Nine of Barrett's principals, as well as John D. Barrett, II, the firm's chairman and CEO, will stay on under long-term agreements each has signed, Legg Mason said in a statement.

Kemper Funds of Chicago has filed a proxy with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to merge three of its funds with the Kemper Total Return Fund as part of the firm's initiative to change its name in 2001 to Zurich Scudder Investments.

ProFunds of Bethesda, Md., which plans to introduce a line of six new exchange-traded funds, five of which will track the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, does not have the right to do so, according to Bill Jordan, a spokesperson for McGraw-Hill Companies of New York, Standard & Poor's parent company.

Banque Arjil et Cie of Paris will sell its entire stake of ABF Capital Management to the asset management firm's founding partners and Credit Lyonnais Asset Management, both of Paris, the companies announced.

An administrative law judge has revoked the registration to operate as an investment adviser of Piper Capital Management of Minneapolis, a unit of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, and fined the firm $2.005 million. The actions, by Judge H. Peter Young, came in an initial decision with regard to allegations brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC's division of enforcement, in the decision, characterized the proceeding as "one of the largest and most complex it has ever conducted."

First Union of Charlotte, N.C. combined its institutional investment group, First Capital Group, with Evergreen Investments, also of Charlotte, and changed its name to Evergreen Institutional Asset Management Dec. 1. The action combined the retail mutual fund and institutional asset management divisions of First Union under a single name, according to Chad Peterson, spokesperson for Evergreen Institutional Asset Management.

Pilgrim Mutual Funds of Scottsdale, Ariz. has filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to merge its Pilgrim Global Income Fund into the Pilgrim Strategic Income Fund.

The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York has granted a motion to dismiss a lawsuit charging Prudential Life Insurance Company of America of Newark, N.J. with attaching excessive fees to its variable annuities.