Mutual funds

Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J., has raised $391 million during its 31-day initial offering period for its three new sector funds (MFMN 6/14/99).

A division of U.S. Trust Co. of Boston is managing two socially-conscious index funds that depart from their peers by trying to beat the S&P 500 rather than special indexes filled with socially-screened stocks.

Fidelity Investments of Boston has created a new index fund of funds. The new fund, the Fidelity Four-in-One Index Fund, invests in the Spartan Market, the Spartan Extended Market, the Spartan International and the Fidelity U.S. Bond index funds. The fund will invest 55 percent of assets in the Spartan Market Index Fund, which mimics the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, and split remaining assets equally between the three other funds.

ING Funds Trust of Philadelphia, Pa., made its ING Internet Fund available to the public on July 6. But already, the fund company is talking about closing the fund.

INVESCO Funds Group of Denver, Colo., has opened two money market funds, originally intended only for institutional investors, to the retail market. These are the INVESCO Treasurer's Money Market Reserve Fund and the INVESCO Treasurer's Tax Exempt Reserve Fund.

Mackenzie Investment Management, a mutual fund investment adviser in Boca Raton, Fla., has launched a new family of five international funds of funds. Mackenzie calls this fund family International Solutions.

Berger Funds of Denver, Colo., has renamed its InformationTech 100 Fund the Berger Information Technology Fund. The fund will invest in companies offering hardware, software, networking and communications. This fund invests with a longer investment horizon than other technology funds, the company said in a statement.

The San Francisco investment bank of Hambrecht & Quist, known for taking companies public, is banking on that same line of business with its first open-end mutual fund.

A State Street Research mutual fund that is designed for professional athletes and their coaches and families has grown significantly since it opened last year.

Three former executives of PanAgora Asset Management of Boston have formed a new fund company, Arrowstreet Capital LP, which will open next month in Cambridge, Mass. Bruce Clark, Peter Rathjens and John Campbell, all formerly of PanAgora, will hold a majority stake in their new company.

TransNations Investments LLC of New York last week said it has begun offering shares of the Amidex35 mutual fund. The fund invests in companies in the newly-formed Amidex35 Index. The index includes selected stocks listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Israeli companies listed on major U.S. exchanges. The Amidex35 fund has no sales charge and TransNations intends to use the Internet as the primary channel for retail sales.

Payden & Rygel of Los Angeles launched a new fund, the California Municipal Income Fund, on June 15. The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of debt securities that pay interest and dividend income exempt from California state and federal taxes.

FMR Corp., the parent company of Fidelity Investments of Boston, plans to sell $750 million in corporate bonds, the company and independent credit rating agencies said last week. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes, said Thomas Eidson, a Fidelity spokesperson. Fidelity has no plans to use the proceeds to acquire another company or as the first step in going public, Eidson said. He declined to disclose details of Fidelity's plans, citing federal securities laws' limitations on public comment while the sale is pending. The sale marks the first time that Fidelity has issued corporate bonds.

OppenheimerFunds of New York is creating a new fund family that will be sub-advised by Trinity Investment Management Corp. of Boston, a recent acquisition.

Franklin Templeton Distributors of San Mateo, Calif., introduced the Franklin Large Cap Growth Fund June 7. The fund invests in companies with market capitalizations of $8.5 billion or more, for long-term capital appreciation. The fund will aim to invest in companies that will have revenue growth in excess of the overall economy, either through above-average industry expansion or market share gains, according to Terri Spath, portfolio manager.

Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J., has introduced three unusual sector funds that mix enhanced index investing with active management. The funds, introduced May 26, are the Prudential Technology Fund, the Prudential Health Sciences Fund and the Prudential Financial Services Fund.

Some new index funds are being developed that will be based on a Dow Jones index that satisfies the strictures of Islamic investors.

Guinness Flight Investment Management of Pasadena, Calif. and Wired magazine have a challenger as to who can claim having the right definition of the "new economy."

Even though Internet stocks have recently been in a slump, there are a number of mutual fund companies poised to introduce their own Internet index funds.

Monument Funds Group of Bethesda, Md., best known for its Monument Internet Fund, launched the Monument Medical Sciences Fund on May 25.