Janus Capital Group plans to merge its Janus Adviser Series fund trust (JAD) into the Janus Investment Fund trust (JIF). The reorganization, which will produce a consolidated platform with 38 mutual funds, is expected to take place on or about July 6.

Janus executives said the merger is in response to changing market conditions and investor migration into advice-driven channels.

In an interview with The MFWire, Drew Elder, senior vice president of product strategy and development, said the reorganization has been in the works for about 18 months.

The merger, he said, will provide shareholders and clients with additional products, and create opportunities for reduced fund expenses over time.

The JIF trust, designed mainly for self-directed investors, offers a single class of no-load shares. The JAD trust, launched in 2000, features multi-share pricing for investors who use intermediaries.

About 75 percent of Janus' assets today are in products in the JIF trust, Elder said.

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Company Press Release

DENVER – Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) announced today that the trustees of the Janus mutual funds have approved a proposal to merge the Janus Adviser Series fund (JAD) trust into the Janus Investment Fund (JIF) trust. The merger, which is expected to occur on or about July 6, 2009, will reorganize and simplify Janus’ product offerings and provide investors with a broader range of investment strategies.

Historically, Janus organized its retail mutual funds into two separate trusts. The original mutual fund trust JIF was designed primarily to meet the needs of the self-directed investor offering a single class of no-load shares. In 2000, the JAD trust was introduced with multi-share class pricing to meet the evolving needs of investors who were choosing to use financial intermediaries. The two trusts are comprised of very similar products managed by the same portfolio managers or teams. In response to changing market conditions and investor migration toward advice-driven channels, Janus believes that it is in the best interest of its fund shareholders to create one mutual fund platform with multi-share class pricing designed to meet the needs of the various investors doing business with the firm.

“We believe the merger provides Janus’ shareholders and clients with a number of benefits, including access to additional product offerings, and creates opportunities for reduced fund expenses over time,” said Robin Beery, president of the Funds, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Janus Capital Group.

At the time of the merger, the JIF trust’s direct investment platform will be closed to new investors but will continue to be available to current direct investors and members of their immediate family and household.

Under the terms of the merger, the following JAD funds would be merged into existing JIF funds, which will have some differences in Fund names from those currently in place in the JAD trust. In addition, 10 new funds will be created in the JIF trust for JAD funds that have no corresponding JIF strategy.

 

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