Pegasus no longer appears in the names of three FBR funds. Arlington, Virginia-based FBR Funds [see profile] made the change last week. [SEC filing]

Effective August 27, FBR renamed the FBR Pegasus Fund to FBR Large Cap Fund and changed its principal investment strategy. The firm rechristened the FBR Pegasus Mid Cap Fund to FBR Mid Cap Fund and the FBR Pegasus Small Cap Fund to FBR Small Cap Fund.

The same day, FBR also reorganized the FBR Pegasus Small Cap Growth Fund into the FBR Small Cap Fund.

Russell Parker, chief marketing and distribution officer for FBR Funds, told The MFWire.com that the decision to merge the funds provided the impetus to drop the Pegasus name from FBR's fund menu altogether.

"On that occasion, we decided to continue to simplify the product lineup by eliminating the Pegasus name from the FBR funds," he said.

The use of the Pegasus name stemmed from the logo of FBR Funds' parent, FBR Capital Markets. The firm continues to have a pegasus logo.

The timing of the funds' name change comes as the funds now have their three- and five-year records and are being more broadly considered in the market.

"We wanted to streamline the name and avoid any kind of confusion between FBR Funds and FBR Pegasus Funds," Parker explained. "It's a simpler story to say FBR Funds."

Prior to last week's change, the FBR Funds brand was used only for sector and concentrated offerings and the FBR Pegasus Funds brand was used for core offerings.

FBR currently offers 10 mutual funds with total AUM of $1.5 billion.  

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