Short Takes: Mass. Financial Names Successors to Managers

Massachusetts Financial Services is reassuring brokers and investors in the wake of news that two of its top fund managers have resigned to go into business for themselves.

The company said the departure of Chris Felipe and John Brennan should not hurt the performance of the three well-regarded funds they ran - the $6.3 billion Massachusetts Investors Growth fund, the $1 billion MFS Strategic Growth fund, and the $2.2 billion MFS Capital Opportunities fund.

"We do feel we have a deep bench and talented people to step up and take over these funds," said John Reilly, a Massachusetts Financial spokesman.

Massachusetts Financial, which manages about $100 billion, has been contacting clients and emphasizing that the analyst framework behind the funds remains in place and the new managers have strong track records, Mr. Reilly said. Mr. Felipe and Mr. Brennan left to form a hedge fund business, Massachusetts Financial said last week.

Stephen Pesek, a veteran large-stock growth fund manager, is managing the Massachusetts Investors Growth fund, and co-managing the MFS Strategic Growth fund with Irfan Ali, a software analyst.

Maura Shaughnessy, manager of the MFS Utilities fund, was tapped to run the MFS Capital Opportunities fund.

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