Short Takes: Connecticut Boutique Launching Two Funds

Westport Asset Management Inc., a Connecticut investment boutique, is launching two mutual funds this week.

The Westport-based firm will send out prospectuses for the Westport Fund and Westport Smallcap Fund by Friday, said Edmund H. Nicklin. Both are no- load funds.

The Westport Fund will be run in a style similar to the Evergreen Growth and Income Fund, which Mr. Nicklin ran for over 10 years. Mr. Nicklin left Evergreen, now a subsidiary of Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union Corp., last fall.

Westport Smallcap will be run both by Mr. Nicklin and Andrew J. Knuth and will have a 65% weighting in companies of less than $1 billion. Both men are principals at Westport.

It will market the funds to both retail and institutional investors, said Mr. Nicklin. The firm, which manages money for institutions, ended 1997 with $1.6 billion of assets under management. It specializes in investing in small-capitalization securities.

Among its business lines is management of college endowments, said Mr. Nicklin. Westport includes Harvard and Yale among its clients, he said.

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