New investors mulling over purchases of Fidelity's Advisor Mid Cap Fund should act quickly. Fidelity will close the fund to new investors on 4pm EST on July 30.

Following fund closing protocol, Fidelity will allow existing investors and new investors within retirement plans (with the fund as available as an investment option before the deadline) to invest all they want.

The fund, managed by Peter Saperstone, grew from $3.2 billion in assets at the end of 2002 to $7.4 billion by the end of May.

"Peter believes, and I concur, that closing the fund will help stabilize cash flows, and will allow him to invest the fund’s assets most effectively on behalf of his shareholders," said Abigail P. Johnson, president of Fidelity Management & Research Company.

Fidelity will launch a new intermediary-only fund, called Advisor Mid Cap II, in August. The fund is still in registration phase, said a Fidelity spokesman.

Tom Allen, manager of VIP Mid-Cap, will manage the fund similarly to that mid-cap variable annuity product. The new fund will also be measured against the same benchmark as the Advisor Mid Cap Fund, and also have "substantially similar investment objectives and policies," said a Fidelity spokesman. 

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