Columbia Management, the primary asset management arm of Bank of America Corp., said Tuesday that it had begun offering R shares, available only to retirement plans, on 13 mutual funds as of Monday.
This was the first Columbia Management offering of shares targeted directly to small to midsize retirement plans, the Boston-based fund manager said. Individual holders of R shares will be able to exchange without charge into other Columbia funds that carry R shares and that are offered by their retirement plans. The company said it might eventually offer R shares with other of its funds.
The retirement share class lets Columbia offer advisers "a menu of pricing options based on retirement plan size," Columbia president Keith Banks said in a press release.
Columbia Management is part of the global wealth and investment management division of the Charlotte-based banking parent. The asset unit had $332.4 billion of assets under management at Sept. 30.
