Key Pax World fund closed to new investors

Pax World Funds has closed its Pax World Balanced Fund to new investors, it disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of last week.

The fund, which was closed Dec. 8, is still open to existing investors, but only those reinvesting their dividends, with an automatic investment plan or participants in self-directed qualified benefit plans (company plans, like a 401K or a SEP IRA but not a personal traditional or Roth IRA.

The company is closing the fund due to significant cash influxes over the past years, but it may make exceptions and reserves the right to reopen the fund. A board recommendation will be made in the near future.

The Balanced Fund is the oldest and largest of the Portsmouth firm’s socially responsible mutual funds, and it has blazed a trail in the field of investing based on certain moral principles. As of last June it held $1.7 billion in assets, more than 10 times the amount of the company’s newer funds: the Growth Fund and the Yield Fund, both of which are still open to new investors.

The High Yield Fund has promoted Mary V. Austin to manage the fund along with its current manager Diane M. Keefe, the company also disclosed. Austin, a charter financial analyst, joined Pax World in 1999.

The High Yield Fund, the company revealed in an SEC filing in September, was facing an inquiry from the SEC about “internal controls issues.” There was no update about the inquiry in the latest filing. – BOB SANDERS