MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
an InvestmentWires' Publication
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MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication |
|
Friday, March 30, 2001 Value Shop Performs Fund Alchemy What a long, strange trip it's been. Neuberger Berman's Focus Fund has finally been annointed as a true non-diversified fund after starting life in 1955 as the Energy Fund. Why not start over? Performance! Over the long run, the fund has had performance that New York-based Neuberger Berman wanted to hang onto. From a strictly statistical standpoint, even a dramatic downward spike in the short term would not dent a long term track record because of the fund's longevity. How do you get from there to here? The Energy Fund is a sort of Fund of a Thousand Faces, traveling through time with different names and purposes. From Energy, it turned into Selected Sectors Plus Energy, but after dropping Energy became Selected Sectors. More recently, the fund assumed the more familiar moniker Focus. However, while the fund's appellation is non-diversified, its prospectus was not. "The name said it but the prospectus didn't allow it," said Peter Sundman, executive vice president. "It's always been a concentrated and focused portfolio, but it didn't coincide with the 40 Act rules of being a non-diversified fund." Putting the fund's prospectus in line with its apparent investment strategy frees up the portfolio manager to manage the fund. Focus has unpacked its bags and hopes to stay a while. A lot of time and trouble for one little fund! "It takes a while, but the shareholders aren't complaining," Sundman quipped, referring to the firm's performance throughout its incarnations. Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=26667 Copyright 2001, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |