We learned from ignites.com that Eagle Money Market Fund and Eagle Municipal Money Market Fund (formerly named Heritage) have filed to liquidate and that new "Eagle" share classes of JPMorgan funds have been filed. A prospectus supplement filing says, "On February 12, 2010, the Board of Trustees of Eagle Cash Trust approved calling a shareholder meeting to consider approving a plan to liquidate and terminate the Money Market Fund and the Municipal Money Market Fund. The Board approved the Plan, subject to shareholder approval, upon recommendation of Eagle Asset Management, Inc., the manager to the Trust."
It says, "Eagle recommends liquidating and terminating each Fund based on anticipated Fund shareholder redemptions which would reduce each Fund's size and economies of scale. Eagle does not believe that it can continue to conduct the business and operations of the Funds in an economically efficient manner upon the anticipated redemptions, and that the expense ratio of the Funds would no longer be competitive. As such, the Board concluded that it would be in the best interests of each Fund and their shareholders to liquidate and terminate each Fund."
The filing explains, "A financial intermediary whose customers own a substantial majority of the Funds' shares has advised Eagle that the Intermediary will no longer make available to its customers or support investments in the Funds after July 9, 2010 and that it plans to make available to its customers and support investments in a proprietary class (named the 'Eagle Class') of the JP Morgan Prime Money Market Fund and JP Morgan Tax Free Money Market Fund, managed by J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc. The Intermediary has advised that its customers may be redeemed from the Funds and reinvested in the New Funds. Eagle and J.P. Morgan will enter into an agreement under which Eagle and its affiliates will be compensated by the New Funds and J.P. Morgan for, among other things, distribution costs, shareholder record-keeping activities, Eagle's ongoing oversight of the services provided, and the coordination and administration of the funds."
The supplement adds, "The Plan is subject to shareholder approval. The Board anticipates holding a shareholder meeting on or about August 12, 2010, to seek approval of the Plan. If the Funds' shareholders approve the Plan, each Fund will liquidate its assets on or about August 27, 2010, and distribute cash pro rata to all remaining shareholders who have not previously redeemed all of their shares. Once the distributions are complete, the Funds will terminate." (See the JPMorgan prospectus filings for the new 'Eagle' classes here.)
The Eagle funds are affiliated with brokerage Raymond James, which recently "implemented an enhanced multibank sweep program that provides greater Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance coverage and offers more competitive interest rates." The company's website says "available cash in your brokerage account will be deposited through [Promontory Interfinancial Network's] Insured Network Deposit service into interest-bearing deposit accounts at one or more banks."
