Janus Reopens Shuttered Funds

December 13, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Janus has reopened to new investments four of its mutual funds that have been shuttered since 2000.

According to an announcement from the Denver fund firm’s CEO elect, Mark Whiston, the four funds that will throw open their doors effective December 31 include:

  • the $17.1-billion flagship Janus Fund
  • the $13.8-billion Janus Worldwide Fund
  • the $1.4-billion Janus Global Technology fund
  • the $1.3-billionJanus Global Life Sciences fund.

“We’re reopening these funds because our portfolio managers are finding greater investment opportunities today than they did when we closed the funds in 2000,” Whiston said in a statement. “And because the funds’ asset bases are smaller than they were two years ago, the additional cash will help the portfolio managers take advantage of those opportunities.”

The fund company said it will also close Janus Fund 2 Friday and fold it into the flagship fund on February 28.

The firm will also close Janus Special Situations fund and merge it with the Strategic Value offering on February 28. Its new name will be Janus Special Equity fund.

Janus said the consolidations are designed to get rid of investment overlaps between similar funds so it can save on expenses.

The Janus announcement said it would take an ownership stake in value manager Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell and Co.(PWM) and has indicated plans to offer several new value funds from PWM and Bay Isle Financial and mathematical risk managed equities from INTECH.

«