Berger Funds' Move to Janus Gets Berger Trustee Support

December 12, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Trustees of the $6-billion Berger Funds have a backed a plan to merge Berger into the Janus funds.

Berger shareholders still need to approve the proposal, which would move the Berger Funds to Janus through a series of reorganizations and transfers of advisory responsibility, according to a news media announcement from Berger.

According to the announcement, Janus will begin managing some Berger growth funds on December 16 and will take on other management responsibilities over the next few months.

Shareholders will be asked to approve the deal as part of a January 2003 proxy solicitation with a shareholder meeting now scheduled for March, the Berger announcement said.

Sub-advised funds will continue to be managed by their current portfolio managers, Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell & Co. and Bay Isle Financial LLC, under Janus supervision.

The Berger trustees said they decided to back the move to Janus based on factors such as:

  • cost
  • shareholder servicing capabilities
  • compatibility of investment style
  • the number of investment options to be made available to Berger shareholders.

The agreement with Janus was driven by an announcement that Stilwell Financial Inc., the parent company of Berger Financial Group LLC, the Funds’ adviser, that it intended to discontinue Berger Financial Group as a separate advisory organization.

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