Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive Fund Marks 20-Year Anniversary With Index-Beating Long-Term Performance

NEW YORK, March 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman Group LLC, one of the world's leading employee-controlled investment managers, is pleased to announce that its Socially Responsive Fund (tickers: NRAAX, NRACX, NBSLX, NBSRX, NRARX, NRSRX, and NBSTX) (the "Fund") celebrated its 20^th anniversary as of March 16. Over the 20 years through March 16, 2014, the Fund's oldest share class, NBSRX, returned an annualized 9.25%, compared with its benchmark, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, which gained an annualized 9.16%. 

The Fund's veteran co-managers, Arthur Moretti, CFA, and Ingrid Dyott, have chosen a high conviction, bottom-up stock picking approach that applies environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria to the Fund's investments. Moretti has been a manager of the Fund since June 2001 and Dyott since December 2003. During the period from June 18, 2001, when Moretti became manager of the Fund, the NBSRX share class returned a cumulative 146.07% through March 16, 2014, compared with 95.18% for the S&P 500. Extraordinary performance such as this may not be repeated. As of March 14 the mutual fund over its various share classes had a total of $2.8 billion in assets under management.

According to a Morningstar analyst report from December 2013: "Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive is an excellent core fund for any investor."

"Neuberger Berman has been integrating environmental, social and governance criteria into our investment process in this strategy for more than 20 years," said Ingrid Dyott. "We are excited to be a leader in this growing and important segment of the investment management business while remaining focused on delivering superior risk adjusted returns for our investors."

"We remain pleased with the quality of the companies in our portfolio. We believe that our holdings are financially strong and have demonstrated solid execution in a slow growth world, and in our view, have meaningful operating leverage to earnings per share, should gross domestic product accelerate," said Arthur Moretti.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman is a 75-year-old private, independent, employee-controlled investment manager. The firm manages equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund portfolios for institutions, advisors and individuals worldwide. With offices in 16 countries, Neuberger Berman's team is approximately 2,000 professionals and the company was named by Pensions & Investments as a 2013 Best Place to Work in Money Management. Tenured, stable and long-term in focus, the firm fosters an investment culture of fundamental research and independent thinking. It manages $242 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2013. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com

An investor should consider Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive Fund's investment objectives, risks and fees and expenses carefully before investing. This and other important information can be found in the Fund's prospectus and summary prospectus, which you can obtain for free by calling 877.628.2583 or by visiting www.nb.com/performance. Please read it carefully before making an investment.

Mid-capitalization stocks are more vulnerable to financial risks and other risks than larger stocks. They are generally less liquid than larger stocks, so their market prices tend to be more volatile. Large-cap stocks are subject to all the risks of stock market investing, including the risk that they may lose value.

Investing in foreign securities involves greater risks than investing in securities of U.S. issuers, including currency fluctuations, interest rates and political conditions. Uncertainty in the markets and international events may cause markets to fluctuate dramatically.

With a value approach, there is the rule that stocks may remain undervalued during a given period. This may happen because value stocks lose favor with investors or because of a failure to anticipate which stocks or industries would benefit from changing market or economic conditions.

The Fund may use certain practices and invest in certain securities involving additional risks. Borrowing, securities lending and using derivatives could create leverage, meaning that certain gains or losses could be amplified, increasing share price movements. In using certain derivatives to gain stock market exposure for excess cash holdings, the Fund increases its risk of loss.

The Fund's social policy could cause it to underperform similar funds that do not have a social policy. Among the reasons for this are: undervalued stocks that do not meet the social criteria could outperform those that do, economic or political changes could make certain companies less attractive for investment or the social policy could cause the Fund to sell or avoid stocks that subsequently perform well.

1.        Information as of most recent prospectuses dated December 16, 2013.

Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Results are shown on a "total return" basis and include reinvestment of all dividends and capital gain distributions. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. For performance data current to the most recent month-end, please visit www.nb.com/performance.  Average Annual Total Returns with sales charge reflect deduction of current maximum initial sales charge of 5.75% for Class A shares.

S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market value weighted index (stock price times number of shares outstanding), with each stock's weight in the Index proportionate to its market to its market value.

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.

©2014 Neuberger Berman Management LLC. All rights reserved.

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

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SOURCE Neuberger Berman Group LLC