Fidelity Launches Advisor Equity Fund

August 12, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Fidelity Investments has tapped William Danoff, who already manages the Fidelity Contrafund, to also head up a new equity offering to be sold through the financial advisor space.

According to an announcement from the mutual fund giant, its new Fidelity Advisor New Insights Fund will invest primarily in the stock of firms whose value the portfolio manager believes is not fully recognized by the public. Fidelity said the portfolio may include companies experiencing positive fundamental change that may lead to accelerating earnings-per-share growth and is designed for investors seeking a fund that is not constrained by any particular investment style. The new fund will use the S&P 500 as its benchmark.

Fidelity said the new offering would be available exclusively through financial advisors at banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies.

Danoff, a 17-year Fidelity veteran, already manages the $30-billion Fidelity Contrafund, the company’s second largest after the flagship $62-billion Magellan fund, for which Danoff worked in 1989-1990.

“The advisor marketplace continues to be a growing business for Fidelity, and the appointment of Will Danoff to manage this fund provides advisors with one of the very best Fidelity has to offer,” Marty Willis, executive vice president, Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, said in a statement.

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