Oppenheimer Changes Muni Bond Fund Managers

By Staff Writer

July 02, 2002 at 08:00 PM

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July 1, 2002 — OppenheimerFunds said its Rochester municipal bond division has taken over managing five national and single-state municipal bond funds.

The division is running Oppenheimer Muni Bond/A (OPTAX), the Oppenheimer Intermediate Muni/A (OPITX), Oppenheimer New York Muni/A (OPNYX), Oppenheimer New Jersey Muni/A (ONJAX), and Oppenheimer California Muni/A (OPCAX).

Ronald Fielding, the leader of the division, will oversee the teams running the funds, which had $2.1 billion in combined assets at the end of May, OppenheimerFunds said. Fielding has piloted the Oppenheimer Rochester:Muni/A (RMUNX) since May 1986.

Jerry Webman, who continues as OppenheimerFunds' director of fixed income securities, previously managed the Municipal fund, and piloted the four other funds being shifted to the Rochester unit with Merrell Hora. Hora will also stay with OppenheimerFunds, the company said.

The management change was not related to the performance of the five funds, and reflects the popularity of the unit's investment style with investors over the last six years, as indicated by the unit's asset growth, a spokesman for the fund complex said. OppenheimerFunds acquired the division in 1996.

The unit's Rochester Municipals and Oppenheimer Rochester:Limited New York Muni/A (LTNYX) funds have seen their assets increase from about $2.7 billion in 1996 to more than $8 billion at the end of May, OppenheimerFunds said.

The unit, responsible for those funds and two other funds, has a "bottom-up, value oriented investment style," OppenheimerFunds said.

Webman and Fielding could not immediately be reached for comment.

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