After a federal court judge recently sided against closed-end fund arbitrageur
Phillip Goldstein, who had sued the
Scudder New Europe Fund and its investment manager
Scudder Kemper Investments, the fund's shareholders voted today to convert the closed-end fund to an open-end investment company, a mutual fund. Scudder said that the conversion of Scudder New Europe to open-end status will occur on or about September 1, 1999.
Goldstein had been trying to separate two issues involved in the open-ending of the fund, the conversion itself and the imposition of a 2% redemption fee for those shareholders cashing in shares within the first year after the conversion. A federal judge ruled on July 16 that the two issues were "inextricably intertwined" and so one vote was taken that included the open-ending and the redemption fee.
A special meeting of
Kemper Europe Fund stockholders also scheduled for today to approve the combination of Scudder New Europe with Kemper Europe was adjourned until July 27, 1999 to allow for additional solicitation of votes. A spokesperson for Scudder indicated that the votes taken so far had been in favor of the adoption of the proposal and it expected to receive the requisite number of votes by the meeting. 
Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE