Mutual funds

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.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, Fidelity Investments of Boston has produced nine 30-minute educational videotapes, derived from the 720-page course book written by the company's president, Robert Pozen ("The Mutual Fund Business", MIT Press, 1998).

An "intelligent document," or IDOC system, created by NeoMedia Technologies of Fort Myers, Fla. can link readers directly to the Internet or to another database site from an annual report or financial statement on software. The product is being marketed by Scott Printing of New Providence, New Jersey. By clicking on a key word or bar code embedded in the document, the IDOC technology can redirect a reader to a company's website or to another area in the electronic document, to learn more about what they are reading. Scott Printing believes delivering information initially in a succinct manner, and then in greater levels of detail, will allow mutual fund and investment companies to provide information more clearly to investors.

Undiscovered Managers Funds has expanded its roster of nine funds with two new international funds, the UM International Equity Fund and the UM International Small Cap Equity Fund. The investment objective of both funds is capital appreciation by investing in publicly traded stocks in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Barrett Associates of New York has introduced the Barrett Growth Fund, a no-load, long-term capital appreciation fund designed to benefit from long-term capital gains tax rates and low overhead.

GE Financial Assurance has added four new funds to the GE Family of Funds. The new funds are a European equity fund; a mid-cap value equity fund; an emerging markets fund and a high yield bond fund. GE Investment Management is adviser to the new funds, although the mid-cap fund uses NWQ Investment Management as a sub-adviser, and the high yield fund uses Miller Anderson Sherrerd.

Security Benefit of Topeka, Kan. is offering three new mutual funds: the Security International Fund, the Security Enhanced Index Fund and the Security Select 25 Fund.

Charles Schwab has consolidated its four programs aimed at high net-worth/active traders into a new service called Schwab Signature Services. Replacing Priority, Priority Gold, Schwab Select and Schwab 500 Brokerage, Signature now reduces Schwab's high net worth/active trading threshold from $500,000 or 24 trades a year, to $100,000 or 12 trades a year.

A new mutual fund is being created to help banks satisfy Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

In a twist on get rich games, Mandricks & Cool Articles Worldwide, Port Washington, N.Y. has introduced Mutual Fundz, a new board game.

American Data Services of Hauppauge, N.Y., a shareholder services company, announced that it has started the Imperial Bank Fund, which will invest in the stocks of banking institutions and other financial services firms. The fund will be managed by David Allaire and Michael Laliberte of the Retirement Planning Company of Providence, R.I. The fund will be 65 percent invested in bank stocks and 35 percent in other financial firms like brokerages, lending institutions and insurance companies. It will carry a 4.75 percent front-end load and a 12b-1 fee of 0.5 percent. Minimum initial investment is $2,000, $500 for IRAs.

E*Trade has finally received SEC approval for its first mutual fund and has now started its own asset management business.

A Connecticut registered investment advisor is offering a product that sounds like an investor's dream come true - insurance for a mutual fund portfolio that guarantees that a living investor will not lose his initial investment.

It was ten months in the making, but Mario Gabelli's long-awaited initial public offering of his Rye-based firm, Gabelli Asset Management, Inc. was finally held on Feb. 11.

Prudential Investments has introduced the Prudential Tax-Managed Equity Fund which is designed to reduce the effect of capital gains distributions on the return of equity mutual fund investments.

Stein Roe Mutual Funds of Chicago has introduced the Stein Roe Small Company Growth Fund. The no-load fund will seek long-term capital appreciation through investment in stocks of small, growing companies.

The Fidelity and Deposit Companies (F&D) of Baltimore announced its new E-Risk Protection Program, a new risk management service designed to help financial service firms reduce risk related to online business activities.

The Moneypaper, a newsletter based in Mamaroneck, NY, has started a new no-load mutual fund which is based on the newsletter's 63-stock index of companies that have low or no-cost dividend reinvestment plans. The company announced plans to start the fund in the fall.

The Central European Value Fund announced that it has added Estonia to the list of countries in which the fund can invest. In addition to Estonia, the fund is currently authorized to invest in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. The fund invests at least 65 percent of its assets in central Europe, It may also invest up to 35 percent in eastern European countries. The fund is listed on the New York and Osaka stock exchanges.

Wilshire Associates announced that the first Wilshire 5000 Index Fund will be launched Feb. 1. The fund will seek to replicate the index while keeping transaction costs low.