Short Takes: Kemper Adds 1st Retail Floating-Rate Fund

Kemper Funds is rolling out a floating-rate fund.

The initial offering period started April 28 and is to end May 25.

Investors buying fund shares during this period will be assured of a $5 per-share purchase price when the fund begins operation May 25. Though it is a closed-end fund, it will be continuously offered, with repurchases and exchanges allowed quarterly.

The fund will invest in floating-rate senior loans and seek a high level of current income and capital preservation.

"Investors whose asset allocation has become overweighted in stocks due to the huge run-up of the past three years may find that a floating-rate fund is a good vehicle for portfolio rebalancing," Thomas W. Littauer, the president of Kemper Funds, said in a statement.

The retail floating-rate fund is Kemper's first, but the company has invested in bank loans since 1989 and manages more than $600 million in floating-rate loans.

The income on a floating-rate senior loan rises and falls with interest rates, allowing prices to remain relatively stable.

Kemper, based in Chicago, is part of Scudder Kemper Investments Inc., the global investment management business of Zurich Financial Services Group.

Kemper has more than $50 billion in retail assets.

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