Janus to Merge Two Mutual Fund Trusts

The merger, which is expected to occur on or about July 6, 2009 and has been approved by trustees of the Janus mutual funds, will reorganize and simplify Janus’ product offerings and provide investors with a broader range of investment strategies, the company said in a press release.

Historically, Janus organized its retail mutual funds into two separate trusts. The original mutual fund trust JIF was designed primarily to meet the needs of the self-directed investor offering a single class of no-load shares. In 2000, the JAD trust was introduced with multi-share class pricing to meet the evolving needs of investors who were choosing to use financial intermediaries.

The two trusts are comprised of very similar products managed by the same portfolio managers or teams. “In response to changing market conditions and investor migration toward advice-driven channels, Janus believes that it is in the best interest of its fund shareholders to create one consolidated mutual fund platform with multi-share class pricing designed to meet the needs of the various investors doing business with the firm,” the press release said.

Under the terms of the merger, some JAD funds will be merged into existing JIF funds, which will have some differences in fund names from those currently in place in the JAD trust. In addition, 10 new funds will be created in the JIF trust for JAD funds that have no corresponding JIF strategy.

At the time of the merger, Janus said the JIF trust’s direct investment platform will be closed to new investors but will continue to be available to current direct investors and members of their immediate family and household.

For more information, go to www.janus.com.