MutualFundWire.com: Fidelity Gears Up for the Launch of a Fund and the Reopening of Two
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Fidelity Gears Up for the Launch of a Fund and the Reopening of Two
Fidelity plans to launch a fund and unshutter two others next week.
The Boston Behemoth will roll out the Fidelity Global Commodity Stock Fund
on March 31. It will reopen the Fidelity Diversified International and
Fidelity Small Cap Stock funds to new investors on March 30.
“The vast majority of the assets invested in both
funds – 93 percent for Diversified International Fund and 86 percent for Small Cap
Stock Fund – are earmarked for retirement," explained Walter Donovan, president of the equity division
at Fidelity Management & Research Company.
"In the normal course of investing, many
shareholders have continued to redeem assets as they've met their financial goals. Since
the funds have been closed, they have not been able to generate sufficient levels of new
sales to offset current and future redemptions," he said.
Company Press Release
BOSTON, March 24, 2009 – Fidelity Investments® today announced that it will
reopen Fidelity Diversified International Fund and Fidelity Small Cap Stock Fund to
new investors and accounts, effective after 4:00 p.m. on March 30, 2009. The funds have
been closed since October 2004 and June 2006, respectively. The firm also announced
that a new fund – Fidelity Global Commodity Stock Fund – will be available to
individual investors and through advisors, effective March 31, 2009.
"We always evaluate whether to open or close funds on a case‐by‐case basis. In
this instance, the funds share some common characteristics that prompted us to reopen
both of them at this time,” said Walter C. Donovan, president, Equity Division, Fidelity
Management & Research Company. “The vast majority of the assets invested in both
funds – 93 percent for Diversified International Fund and 86 percent for Small Cap
Stock Fund – are earmarked for retirement. In the normal course of investing, many
shareholders have continued to redeem assets as they've met their financial goals. Since
the funds have been closed, they have not been able to generate sufficient levels of new
sales to offset current and future redemptions. We believe reopening the funds will help
bring some equilibrium to cash flows in order to ensure Bill and Andy can most
effectively direct their investment strategies. It’s effectively the inverse of the reason
why we limited new purchases of the funds over the past few years. At that time, we
were seeing strengthening cash inflows, and we expected that trend to continue."
Fidelity Diversified International Fund seeks capital growth by investing
primarily in the common stocks of non‐U.S. companies. The fund has been managed by
William Bower since 2001.
Fidelity Small Cap Stock Fund seeks long‐term growth of capital by normally
investing at least 80 percent of its assets in common stocks of companies with small
market capitalizations1. Andrew Sassine has managed the fund since July 2008.
Fidelity also announced the launch of Fidelity Global Commodity Stock Fund, a
new equity fund with retail and Advisor share classes. Fidelity Global Commodity Stock
Fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in stocks of companies whose primary
business is in energy, metals or agriculture. The fund will seek capital appreciation and
invest in securities issued anywhere in the world, including the United States. The new fund will be available to investors on March 31, 2009.
The new fund provides a global specialized option for investors looking to allocate
a portion of their portfolio to stocks of companies in the energy, metals and agriculture
industries. Unlike pure commodity funds, which invest in commodity linked notes,
futures or other derivative instruments, Global Commodity Stock Fund will invest across
the universe of stocks in the energy, metals and agriculture industries.
The new fund will be managed by Joseph Wickwire, who also manages
Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Gold Fund. Wickwire is an
experienced investment professional with significant expertise in the commodity
universe. Prior to joining Fidelity in 2007, Wickwire spent 20 years at Evergreen
Investments in Boston where his responsibilities have included managing a precious metals fund from 2004 until 2007 and serving as a director and analyst from 1999
until 2004, following the Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand equity markets as
well as precious metal, base metal and paper industries.
Fidelity Investments is one of the worldʹs largest providers of financial
services, with custodied assets of $2.4 trillion, including managed assets of nearly
$1.2 trillion as of February 28, 2009. Fidelity offers investment management,
retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing
services to 24 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,500 financial
intermediary firms. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United
States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, the largest mutual
fund supermarket and a leading online brokerage firm. For more information about
Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.
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