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Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Fund Firms Downplay MF Global's Collapse On Monday $40-billion securities and trading giant MF Global filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and mutual fund firms are already rushing to downplay the collapse or distance themselves from it. Fortune and Bloomberg both highlighted some of MF Global's top common shareholders. It looks like several fund firms owned big chunks of MF Global, probably through their mutual funds and other investing products. Fortune claims Fidelity institutional arm Pyramis Global Advisors holds 8.66 percent of MF Global's common shares, while Bloomberg says Fidelity held 14.8 percent. Both list TIAA-CREF as holding a bit less (Fortune say 5.77 percent, Bloomberg 6.6 percent). Fortune also mentions quasi-indexing giant Dimensional Fund Advisors (5.41 percent) and Rydex Security Global Investors (5.13 percent). TIAA-CREF declined to comment for this story. A Fidelity spokesman told MFWire.com's sister publication, The 401kWire, that, "as of September, the majority of Fidelity's equity portfolios … did not hold MF Global stock" and that the Boston Behemoth does "not expect developments involving this company or its stock to have a significant effect" [see The 401kWire, 11/1/2011]. Rydex, now part of Guggenheim, released a statement clarifying that it held less than 0.25 percent of MF Global's common shares, not the 5.13 percent reported by Fortune, and that the shares are spread out among six index-based Rydex products. Fortune also listed Guardian's RS Investments as holders of 7.81 percent of MF Global's common stock, but a Guardian spokeswoman clarified that the RS Partners Fund unloaded its MF Global shares on October 26, five days before the bankruptcy filing. And Eaton Vance felt the need to issue its own release clarifying that, "as of October 31, 2011, no Eaton Vance mutual fund, institutional separate account or pooled vehicle had exposure to MF Global Holdings Ltd. securities." Company Press Release Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=38221 Copyright 2011, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |