Fidelity to sell $750 million of debt
From The Wall Street Journal -- subscribers only
Fidelity Investments is going to raise outside capital. The Boston Behemoth is selling $750 million of 20 to 30 year debt with the assistance of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The cash is earmarked for facilities expansion, its venture capital arm and technology. Included is a $300 million tab to revamp its systems for the Y2K. Fidelity also revealed it had a bang-up first quarter in the offering document. Its net income quadrupled to $294.1 million and revenue surged 27% to $2 billion. Also disclosed was Fidelity's ad budget. Last year ads and other selling costs hit $263.4 million. In the first quarter these costs ballooned to $71.8 million.

Inside the turmoil at Strong
From The Wall Street Journal -- subscribers only
Chair throwing, suitcase tossing, and tears were part of the scene 18 months ago as Dick Strong struggled with his senior management over whether to sell Strong Funds to Prudential Corp. (the British insurer) or stay independent. The story claims that Strong's experienced executives brought in from the outside were debating responses to a fall-off in sales, and demanding ownership in the firm. Needless to say, Strong felt sharing some of his 85% stake was not the right reward for managers who held watch in bad times. Strong made his point by bringing a long-time maintenance worker to the meeting and yelling that "This is the type of loyal person you should want to be like!" The only other executive named in the story -- Rochelle Lamm-Wallach -- is no longer at Strong.

Why Kobrick chose Nvest
From TheStreet.com -- subscribers only
How important is the right partner? Just ask Fred Kobrick. Syre & Bailey give the inside scoop on why Kobrick sold to Nvest. With only $200 million in assets and a strong track record, Kobrick came to the conclusion that the funds were closed out of the big money as long as they were affiliated with the Cendant name. "As soon as they ran into trouble, my distribution and marketing became a nightmare," Kobrick told the duo. Talks for the deal started five months ago during an unrelated breakfast meeting between Kobrick and Nvest's Peter Voss. Will there be a happy ending? Nvest is looking for Kobrick's funds to pull in $2 billion in their new home.

Stein Roe to launch Net fund
From TheStreet.com -- subscribers only
If sales are down why not start a Net fund? This may be what the suits at Stein Roe are thinking as they map out the launch for the Stein Roe Internet Leaders fund later this year. David Brady will manage the fund with the help of new staff and analysts (Stein Roe is now in the process of hiring the extra help). With only $6 billion in assets Net mania could go straight to Stein Roe's bottom line.

Fund uses Community Reinvestment Act to rope in bank shareholders
From The Miami Herald
Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based SunCoast Capital Group Ltd. is hoping to raise $1 billion in fund assets in just 8 months with a new fund targeted at banks -- not retail investors. The idea is to assist banks in meeting their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. Dubbed the CRA Qualified Investment Fund, it will purchase qualified investments, such as mortgage-backed securities and municipal bonds and save banks th trouble of digging up CRA qualified investments on their own. The fund opened June 10 and is managed by CRAFund Advisors. Fund managers said they anticipate having $1 billion in assets within 18 months.

No more Money Honey
From The New York Post
Maria Bartiroma is toast as host of CNBC Business Center, also being moved off the show is her co-host Tyler Mathisen. Ron Insana and Sue Herrera will take over as the show's hosts. Don't cry for Maria, though. When she gets back from her honeymoon (she just married Jonathon Steinberg) she will still work from 8 AM to 6 PM and act as an afternoon host. She will also take home a reported $300,000. NBC execs say they are making the move to take advantage of Lou Dobb's departure at CNNfn and that her schedule was already being reworked.

Funds in the press

Morningstar's Fund Spy looks at the takeover of Preferred Income Investment by Staurt Horejsi, the departure of American Century's managers, and the trend toward floating-rate corporate loan funds.

Microsoft's Money Central profiles five funds with more than $50 billion in assets: Fidelity Magellan (FMAGX), Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX), Washington Mutual Investors (AWSHX), Investment Company of America (AIVSX) and Fidelity Growth & Income (FGRIX).

Morningstar explains why mid-cap funds may be better than small cap funds.

FundsInteractive.com also plugs mid-cap funds and a thing called "all-cap" funds.
 

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