Lord Abbett & Co. has launched three new share classes. The Jersey City based fund company has made the F, R2 and R3 shares available in several of its funds. Lord Abbett also reclassified the class Y share as the class I share.

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Jersey City, NJ – October 11, 2007 – Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC (“Lord Abbett”), an independent, privately held investment management firm, announced today that it has launched three new share classes for several of its mutual funds: the “F,” “R2,” and “R3” share classes. In addition, the Class “Y” share has been reclassified as the Class “I” share.

The firm has introduced the new share classes to broaden its reach to an increased variety of investment platforms, including wrap programs and retirement plans. Steve Lipper, Lord Abbett Director of Retirement Marketing stated, “A growing number of investors are using mutual funds to fulfill their investment needs, and financial advisors use these shares in a variety of investment platforms. Lord Abbett expects these changes will provide investors and advisors with greater choice, encouraging a broader distribution of the firm’s mutual funds.”

The affected share classes and their intended market segments include:

· Class F shares – will be offered in connection with fee-based and advisory programs;
· Class R shares – will be offered to certain retirement plans;
· Class Y shares – have been reclassified as Class I shares to reflect a common industry practice (and will continue to be offered to the Institutional market); and provide greater usability for the RIA market.

No changes have been made to Lord Abbett funds’ Class A, B, and C shares.

Class R shares will be available for the following Lord Abbett funds: Affiliated Fund, All Value Fund, America’s Value Fund, Developing Growth Fund, Growth Opportunities Fund, International Core Equity Fund, International Opportunities Fund, Large Cap Core Fund, Large Cap Growth Fund, Value Opportunities Fund, Alpha Strategy Fund, Balanced Strategy Fund, Diversified Equity Strategy Fund, Diversified Income Strategy Fund, Growth and Income Strategy Fund, Bond Debenture Fund, Convertible Fund, Core Fixed Income Fund, Developing Local Markets Fund, High Yield Fund, and Total Return Fund.

Class F shares will be available for all Lord Abbett mutual funds, except for the following: U.S. Government and Government Sponsored Enterprises Money Market Fund, Micro Cap Value Fund, Micro Cap Growth Fund, and some of the state-specific funds.  

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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