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M* Fund Times: Openings, Closings, Manager Changes
Reply to @VintageFreak: There may be a much less insidious explanation. I believe that in its articles, M* uses the same ticker that would pop out of its premium screener when asking for "distinct portfolio only". That is (as stated in the linked glossary entry), the oldest share class. The glossary doesn't say, but I think I've read elsewhere that a tie goes to the largest share class.
According to the latest prospectus (Feb 1, 2013) for the fund, as of Sept 30, 2012, the I class had $879M, while the R class held only $454M.
Consider the Acorn funds - now owned by Ameriprise/Columbia; Columbia converted these formerly no load funds to load classes (and also added an institutional share class). That means that the oldest share class, now called Z class, is retail, no load. That's the class that I see appearing in M* articles. For example, here's a M* column from a year ago talking about Acorn International. That is, ACINX, the Z share class.
Comments
According to the latest prospectus (Feb 1, 2013) for the fund, as of Sept 30, 2012, the I class had $879M, while the R class held only $454M.
Consider the Acorn funds - now owned by Ameriprise/Columbia; Columbia converted these formerly no load funds to load classes (and also added an institutional share class). That means that the oldest share class, now called Z class, is retail, no load. That's the class that I see appearing in M* articles. For example, here's a M* column from a year ago talking about Acorn International. That is, ACINX, the Z share class.
The explanation doesn't have to be sinister.