Schwab Offers Its First Actively Managed International Fund

May 6, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Schwab Funds has announced the addition of its first actively managed international fund — the Schwab International Core Equity Fund.

According to the announcement, the new fund is designed to offer broad international equity exposure to help investors diversify their portfolios. It combines portfolio optimization strategies with systematic international stock research developed by the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

The new fund expects to hold securities of between 100 and 200 companies, chosen from a broad universe of more than 6,000 securities in 32 countries. Its benchmark will be the MSCI EAFE Index, but in addition to EAFE countries, the fund will consider securities from 11 additional countries also evaluated by the international stock research, Schwab said.

The fund offers three share classes with expense ratios as follows:

  • Investor Shares (SICVX) – expense ratio of 1.10% and required minimum investment of $100,
  • Select Shares (SICSX) – expense ratio of 0.95% and required minimum investment of $50,000, and
  • Institutional Shares (SICNX) – expense ratio of 0.86% and required minimum investment of $500,000.

The fund’s subscription period runs from May 1 to May 29 with an offer of $10 per share, and the fund will begin operations on May 30. For more information go to  www.schwab.com/icefund  or call 800-448-2455.

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