Heartland Advisors reopened its flagship Heartland Value Fund to new investors, said spokesman Aaron Picard. Heartland had closed the fund, which invests in small-cap and microcap stocks, in November 2003 because of heavy inflows. The fund, up 16.2% for the year through Sept. 30, has about $1.8 billion in assets. Portfolio managers William J. Nasgovitz, who also founded the firm, Eric Miller and Brad Evans now see opportunities to invest in equities that meet their value criteria, Mr. Picard said.
Heartland, which offers three value equity funds, exited two high-yield municipal bond funds in 2001 that became the subject of an SEC complaint alleging misrepresentation of the net asset values of those funds. Heartland, which maintained it consistently complied with securities laws and rules, remains in talks with the SEC.
