Investors Group announces fund mergers and objective changes

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Apr 25, 2013, 12:25 ET

WINNIPEG, April 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Investors Group today announced proposed changes to its fund offering involving nine fund mergers and proposed changes to the investment objectives of ten Corporate Class Funds.

Proposed Fund Mergers

The following proposed mergers are expected to take effect on or about the close of business on June 14, 2013, subject to any necessary securityholder and regulatory approvals:


Merging Fund		Continuing Fund
Investors Japanese Equity Fund	To merge into	Investors Pan Asian Growth Fund
Investors Japanese Equity Class±	To merge into	Investors Pan Asian Growth Class±
Investors European Dividend Growth Fund	To merge into	Investors European Equity Fund
Investors Summa Global SRI™ Fund	To merge into	Investors Global Fund
Investors Summa Global SRI™ Class±	To merge into	Investors Global Class±
Investors Mergers & Acquisitions Fund	To merge into	Investors North American Equity Fund
Investors Mergers & Acquisitions Class±	To merge into	Investors North American Equity Class±
IG Mackenzie Universal Global Growth Class±	To merge into	IG Mackenzie IVY Foreign Equity Class±
Investors Real Return Bond Fund	To merge into	Investors Canadian Bond Fund

±This mutual fund is a class of securities issued by Investors Group Corporate Class Inc.™

The mergers are expected to provide securityholders of the merging funds with more effective portfolio management and generally broader investment mandates with more diversification which, in turn, will provide the potential for less volatility and improved long-term performance.

All of the mergers have been reviewed by the IG Funds Independent Review Committee (IRC) which has determined that the mergers achieve a fair and reasonable result for the funds.

Proposed Investment Objective Changes

The following Corporate Class Funds will be provided with the flexibility to invest primarily in the units of other Investors Group funds that will facilitate achieving the Class' investment objective and /or investing directly in equity securities:

Investors Canadian Equity Class
Investors Canadian Growth Class
Investors Canadian Large Cap Value Class
Investors Canadian Small Cap Class
Investors Canadian Small Cap Growth Class
Investors North American Equity Class
Investors Québec Enterprise Class
Investors Summa SRI™ Class
Investors U.S. Large Cap Value Class
Investors U.S. Opportunities Class

This change is expected to provide these Classes with more effective portfolio management, including better diversification and easier asset allocation, and the potential to reduce overall trading costs.

The proposed changes are expected to take effect on or about June 12, 2013, pending required approvals.

Securityholder meetings
Securityholders of the Merging Funds, as well as for the Continuing Classes, will be asked to approve the mergers involving their funds at special meetings scheduled to be held June 10, 2013, in Winnipeg. Securityholders will also be asked to approve the objective changes at a separate vote. Registered owners of the affected funds as at the record date (April 26, 2013) will receive a Notice of Meeting, Proxy and a Management Information Circular detailing the mergers and changes to the objectives.

The mergers are not considered to be material for any of the Continuing Funds, but meetings for the four Continuing Corporate Class Funds are required for corporate law purposes.

Persons who become registered securityholders of an affected fund after the record date may request to receive the meeting materials and vote at the meeting by contacting the manager at least 10 days in advance of the meeting of their fund. The costs associated with the fund mergers will be borne by Investors Group.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The Funds are distributed across Canada by Investors Group Financial Services Inc., (in Quebec, a financial services firm), and Investors Group Securities Inc. (in Quebec, a firm in financial planning.)

Investors Group, founded in 1926, is a national leader in delivering personalized financial solutions to Canadians through a network of approximately 4,500 Consultants located throughout Canada. In addition to an exclusive family of mutual funds and other investment vehicles, Investors Group offers a wide range of insurance, securities, mortgage and other financial services. Investors Group is a member of the IGM Financial Inc. (TSX: IGM) group of companies. IGM Financial is one of Canada's premier financial services companies with approximately $126 billion in total assets under management as of March 31, 2013.

™This trademark is owned by IGM financial Inc. and licensed to its subsidiary corporations.

SOURCE: Investors Group Inc.