Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund Surpasses $1 Billion In Assets

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman Group LLC, one of the world's leading employee-controlled money managers, is pleased to announce that the firm's International Equity Fund (tickers: NBIIX, NIQAX, NIQCX, NIQTX, NIQVX), has exceeded $1 billion in assets under management amid investor inflows and investment gains.

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Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund ("the Fund") is led by veteran portfolio manager Benjamin Segal, head of the firm's global equity team. As of September 30, 2013, fund tracker Morningstar Inc. rates the Fund's Institutional and Investor share classes 5 stars, and Trust share class 4 stars overall rating (NBIIX, NIQVX, and NIQTX, respectively) and awards it a Bronze rating (in the Foreign Large Blend category of 767 funds). The Fund's Institutional Class ranks in the 19th  percentile for the three-year annualized period out of 767 funds, and in the 11th percentile for the five-year annualized period out of 710 funds, respectively, through 9/30/13, according to Morningstar.

Benjamin Segal and his team employ a flexible, actively managed all-cap approach seeking quality companies that sell for reasonable prices across styles, market capitalization, within and also outside the MSCI EAFE Index.

"Our strategy is based on bottom-up stock picking and fundamental analysis, so we are focused on finding companies that can turn challenges into opportunities, as opposed to predicting economic outcomes,'' Benjamin Segal said. "In our view, stock selection is the key to investing in international markets. Where companies are domiciled is not what really matters; it's about identifying those individual companies that have the greatest risk-reward potential. That's why we focus on companies that we believe have the potential to sustain growth and generate returns, but also trade at discounted valuations."

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman is a private, independent, employee-controlled investment manager. It partners with institutions, advisors and individuals throughout the world to customize solutions that address their needs for income, growth and capital preservation. Neuberger Berman has more than 1,900 employees worldwide, with approximately 450 investment professionals, offering an investment culture of independent thinking.  Founded in 1939, the company provides solutions across equities, fixed income, hedge funds and private equity, and had $227 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2013. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

An investor should consider Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund's investment objectives, risks and fees and expenses carefully before investing. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. This and other important information can be found in the Fund's prospectus and, if available, summary prospectus, which you can obtain by calling 877.628.2583. Please read the prospectus and, if available, the summary prospectus, carefully before making an investment.

Investing in foreign securities involves greater risks than investing in securities of U.S. issuers, including currency fluctuations, potential political instability, restrictions on foreign investors, less regulation and less market liquidity.

Governments of emerging market countries may be more unstable and more likely to impose capital controls, nationalize a company or an industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and on withdrawing sales proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose burdensome taxes that could adversely affect security prices. These countries may also have less developed legal and accounting systems. Securities issued in these countries may be more volatile and less liquid than securities issued in foreign countries with more developed economies or markets.

Changes in currency exchange rates bring an added dimension of risk. Currency fluctuations could erase investment gains or add to investment losses. From time to time, the Fund may hedge against some currency risks; however, the hedging instruments may not always perform as the Fund expects and could produce losses. Suitable hedging instruments may not be available for currencies of emerging market countries.

The risks involved in seeking capital appreciation from investments primarily in companies based outside the United States are set forth in the prospectus.

The Morningstar ratings for Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund – Institutional Class and Investor Class for the 3- and 5-year periods ended September 30, 2013 were 4 stars (out of 767 foreign large blend funds) and 5 stars (out of 710 foreign large blend funds), respectively. The Morningstar ratings for Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund – Trust Class for the 3- and 5-year periods ended September 30, 2013 were 4 stars (out of 767 foreign large blend funds) and 4 stars (out of 710 foreign large blend funds), respectively. The Morningstar ratings for Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund – Class A for the 3- and 5-year periods ended September 30, 2013 were 3 stars (out of 767 foreign large blend funds) and 4 stars (out of 710 foreign large blend funds), respectively.

For each retail mutual fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive five stars, the next 22.5% receive four stars, the next 35% receive three stars, the next 22.5% receive two stars and the bottom 10% receive one star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a retail mutual fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Ratings are ©2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

Morningstar rankings are based on Morningstar total returns, which include both income and capital gains or losses and are not adjusted for sales charges or redemption fees ended September 30, 2013, to all funds that have the same Morningstar category. The highest percentile rank is 1 and the lowest is 100. Neuberger Berman International Equity Fund - Institutional Class ranks in the 68^th, 19^th and 11^th percentiles for the 1-, 3- and 5-year periods respectively. The Morningstar US OE Foreign Large Blend category contains 818, 767 and 710 funds as of September 30, 2013 for the 1-, 3- and 5-year periods respectively. Ratings are ©2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

The Morningstar OBSR Analyst Rating™ for funds is the summary expression of our forward-looking analysis of a fund. Morningstar OBSR Analyst Ratings are assigned globally on a five-tier scale running from Gold to Negative. The top three ratings, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, all indicate that our analysts think highly of a fund; the difference be­tween them corresponds to differences in the level of ana­lyst conviction in a fund's ability to outperform its bench­mark and peers through time, within the context of the level of risk taken. The Analyst Rating does not express a view on a given asset class or peer group; rather, it seeks to evaluate each fund within the context of its objective, an appropriate benchmark, and peer group.

The MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, Far East) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. & Canada. As of May 27, 2010, the MSCI EAFE Index consisted of the following 22 developed market country indices: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The index is translated into U.S. dollars. Please note that indices do not take into account any fees and expenses of investing in the individual securities that they track, and that individuals cannot invest directly in any index. Data about the performance of this index are prepared or obtained by NBM and include reinvestment of all dividends and capital gain distributions. The Fund may invest in many securities not included in the above-described index.

The "Neuberger Berman" name and logo are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC. "Neuberger Berman Management LLC" and the individual fund names in this piece are either service marks or registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Management LLC. ©2013 Neuberger Berman Management LLC. All rights reserved.

©2013 Neuberger Berman Management LLC, distributor.

Media Contact:
Alex Samuelson, 212.476.5392, [email protected]

SOURCE Neuberger Berman Group LLC