Yet another fund company is re-opening its funds. Wasatch Advisors has decided to re-open the Wasatch Micro Cap Value Fund and the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund, which have been closed since their launches, in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Brian Bythrow, portfolio manager of the Micro Cap Value Fund, said that the company made the decision to take advantage of opportunity in the market.

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Company Press Release

SALT LAKE CITY - (Business Wire) Wasatch Advisors today announced the limited time re-opening of two of their most requested micro cap products: the Wasatch Micro Cap Value Fund and the Wasatch International Opportunities Fund. These funds have been closed to all investors since their launches in 2003 and 2005 respectively.

Brian Bythrow, Portfolio Manager of the Micro Cap Value Fund since its inception, said, “With the Russell Microcap Index down nearly 21% over the past 12 months we are finding so many interesting buy opportunities that we would love to be able to bring in a few new shareholders at this point of the market cycle.”

Said Blake Walker, Portfolio Manager of the International Opportunities Fund since its inception, “As primarily a micro cap fund we have very limited capacity, but the current market has provided good additional investment opportunities that we believe offer a nice entry point for shareholders. We do expect to close the fund again in the near term. As always that decision will be based on total assets under management and the valuations we see in the market.”

Wasatch carefully monitors mutual fund assets in order to protect the integrity of our investment process and objectives for each Fund. The International Opportunities Fund closed the day after it opened in January of 2005 with $23M under management, and currently has roughly $45M in assets. The Micro Cap Value Fund closed the same day it launched in July of 2003 with $66M under management, and currently has roughly $95M in assets.

With these two re-openings, 13 of Wasatch’s 14 funds are currently open to all investors.

About Wasatch Advisors

Wasatch Advisors, Inc. is an employee-owned investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Wasatch Advisors is the investment manager to Wasatch Funds®, a family of no-load mutual funds, as well as separately managed institutional and individual portfolios. Wasatch Advisors pursues a disciplined approach to investing, focused on bottom-up, fundamental analysis to develop a deep understanding of the investment potential of individual companies. The Portfolio Managers employ a uniquely collaborative multiple eyes™ process to leverage the knowledge and skill of the entire Wasatch Advisors research team in making investment decisions. Wasatch Advisors was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Edited by: Erin Kello


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