Fifth Third Integrates Six Funds Of Ohio Broker-Dealer It Bought

Fifth Third Bancorp. of Cincinnati said Monday that it has folded a recently acquired mutual fund family into its Fountain Square Funds family.

The banking company picked up the Cardinal Funds as part of its acquisition in June of Ohio Co., a broker-dealer based in Cleveland. The funds had $2 billion in six portfolios.

Four of the Cardinal Funds - a balanced fund, an aggressive growth fund, and two government bond funds-were merged with their counterparts in the Fountain Square Funds family.

Two others remained intact but underwent name changes. They are the Cardinal Fund, a large-cap growth fund, which was renamed the Fountain Square Cardinal Fund; and the Cardinal Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund, which also takes the Fountain Square name.

The Fountain Square family now has 16 mutual funds with assets of $4.5 billion. The lineup consists of six equity, five fixed-income, one balanced, and four money market portfolios. They are distributed by Bisys Fund Services, a unit of Bisys Group, Little Falls, N.J.

Scott Degerberg, a vice president at Fifth Third, said it will notify investors of the changes in statement stuffers to be mailed this week. Fifth Third has $28 billion of assets.

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