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July 13, 2001
Citizens Acquires Meyers Pride Value Fund
by Mark Thomsen
Meyers Pride assets to become part of the new Citizens Value Fund.
SocialFunds.com --
Citizens Advisers, Inc., investment advisers to Citizens Funds, announced this week that it was
acquiring the assets of Meyers
Pride Value Fund (ticker: MYPVX) from Meyers Capital Management LLC. Citizens Funds, a
provider of social mutual funds, will rename the fund the Citizens Value Fund.
Shelly Meyers, who has managed the Meyers Pride
Value Fund since its inception in 1996, will continue to serve as portfolio manager. The fund has
been a standout this year, with a year-to-date return of 21.7 percent as of June 30. Its five-year
return is a little over 19 percent, which puts it in the 5th percentile compared to similar funds.
"We're thrilled to add such a top-performing value fund to Citizens family of socially and
environmentally responsible funds," said John L. Shields, President and CEO of Citizens Advisers.
"Our customers also reap the added benefit of having such a highly successful portfolio manager as
Shelly Meyers oversee the day-to-day responsibilities of the new Citizens Value Fund."
The
Meyers Pride Value Fund is a no-load social mutual fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation.
It only invests in firms that have stated progressive policies regarding gays and lesbians,
including policies against discrimination in hiring and promotion based on sexual orientation.
Citizens will expand those qualifications to encompass its exclusionary screens, which
include alcohol, tobacco, firearms, diversity, gambling and animal testing. It will also apply its
qualitative analysis that identifies companies with useful products, a history of environmental
stewardship and good employee and community relations.
Because Citizens is still
conducting its analysis, it was not able to say whether any companies would be dropped from Meyers
Pride's current portfolio. It did say, however, that a significant number of companies did overlap
with Citizens' financially and socially approved list of firms. Three of those holdings are Microsoft (ticker: MSFT), Cendant (CD), and Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI).
Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Citizens currently offers the Citizens Core Growth Fund
(ticker: WAIDX), a large-cap index fund, the Citizens Emerging Growth Fund
(WAEGX), a mid-cap growth fund, the Citizens Global Equity Fund
(WAGEX), an international large-cap growth fund, the Citizens International Growth Fund, an
international, primarily large-cap growth fund, the Citizens Income Fund (WAIMX),
a fixed income fund, and the Citizens Money Market Fund (WKAXX).
"The introduction of the
Value Fund is consistent with our ongoing strategy to introduce new products that have a broad base
appeal across the institutional and retail markets we serve," said Val Dingle, Vice President of
Marketing at Citizens. "Our goal is to continue to build a diverse, socially responsible product
lineup that meets investors' needs."
When asked if the Value Fund would be an active
shareowner, Dingle said in the past Citizens has filed shareowner resolutions with firms held in
its large-cap growth portfolio, the reasons for which include the companies are larger and higher
profile. He said Citizens will consider filing shareowner resolutions with its other funds in the
future.
He also said that Citizens votes proxies for all its funds and has disclosed its
voting guidelines on its website. The firm is actively considering disclosing actual votes in the
near future.
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