Evergreen Funds, the $54 billion investment unit of First Union Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., said it plans to launch a mutual fund in January that will be co-managed with three other fund companies.
The domestic equity portfolio, to be called the Evergreen Masters Fund, will be managed jointly with Putnam Investments, Massachusetts Financial Services, and Oppenheimer Funds, said William M. Ennis, who heads Evergreen Funds.
The portfolio, which fits the "manager of managers" category, gives investors access to four asset managers through the purchase of shares in one fund. Not to be confused with a "fund of funds"-which lets investors buy into several funds by investing in one portfolio-a manager of managers portfolio increases its investors' exposure to different management styles rather than different funds.
A customer who invests $1 in the Masters Fund is putting 25 cents at the disposal of each of four asset managers, Mr. Ennis explained.
Investors get a broad sweep of asset diversification in one fund, said an Evergreen spokesman. "The equity diversification based on core competency is attractive," Mr. Ennis said.
Evergreen's Stephen Lieber will manage the mid-cap value portion of the portfolio, and Mark Regan of MFS will oversee the mid-cap growth piece. Mr. Regan is a portfolio manager in MFS' emerging growth equity team in Boston, and Mr. Lieber manages the flagship Evergreen Fund, along with two other portfolios.
The large-cap value portion will be managed by Charles Albers and Nikolaos Monoyios at Oppenheimer in New York. They both manage Oppenheimer's Mainstreet portfolio.
The large-cap growth portion will be managed by a team of three from Putnam in Boston who are responsible for managing that company's Investors Fund. They are C. Beth Cotner, Richard England, and Manuel Weiss.
Ads for the new fund will appear in the print media as part of a larger campaign to be launched by Evergreen in the new year, Mr. Ennis said.
