Evergreen Investments

Infobox Company
name = Evergreen Investments
company_
type = Subsidiary
slogan = “Investments that stand the test of time.”
foundation = 1932
location = Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte, North Carolina
key_people = Dennis Ferro, Pres. & CEO
David Germany, CIO
William Munn, COO
parent = Wachovia Corporation
Public (nyse|WB)
industry = Finance
products = Financial Services
homepage = [http://www.evergreeninvestments.com/ EvergreenInvestments.com]

Evergreen Investments is the brand name under which Wachovia Corporation conducts its investment management business through its investment branch known as the Capital Management Group (CMG). Due to Wachovia's growing recognition, outside of the United States, Evergreen Investments conducts sales and distribution business under the brand name of Wachovia Global Asset Management.

Evergreen Investments boasts US$245.9 billion in assets under management, 83 mutual funds, 2.7 million mutual fund shareholders and 1,064 employees as of June 30, 2008. [http://www1.evergreeninvestments.com/eicom/public/content/News_Room.jsp] Evergreen ranks among America's 30 largest asset management companies and one of the top 25 largest mutual fund families.

This mutual fund family promotes itself as a "broadly diversified asset management organization, with products and services distributed across several lines of business...managing diverse investments such as institutional portfolios, mutual funds, variable annuities, alternative investments and private accounts." [http://www1.evergreeninvestments.com/eicom/pub/newcontent.go?k=900100013&c=About+Evergreen/1]

Corporate History

The modern day Evergreen Investments is the successor to the brand name of Keystone Investments, which was first founded in 1935.

Keystone Investments: 1935-1996

Keystone Investments was found in 1935 as one of the first mutual fund families. It was employee-owned and operated until its merger with, First Union owned, Evergreen Funds. Keystone offered more than 25 retail mutual funds.

Keystone-Evergreen Merger: 1996-1998

First Union Corporation, the parent company of the legacy Evergreen Funds, acquired the Keystone Fund Family and began the Evergreen-Keystone merger in 1996. The merger brought together the strengths of two industry leaders and by 1997 the Evergreen and Keystone funds were integrated under the surviving Evergreen brand name that would offer over 80 retail and institutional mutual funds.

The full merger was completed by January 1998. In that same year Evergreen Funds begins to operate with two sub divisions: the Retail Company and the Institutional Company.

Tattersall Advisory Group

In 1999, Evergreen acquired the Tattersall Advisory Group (TAG), an investment advisory firm specializing in fixed income management, as wholly owned, freestanding subsidiary of Evergreen Funds

FIRST UNION – WACHOVIA, Merger of Equals

On August 3, 2001, legacy Wachovia Corporation shareholders approved a "merger of equals" deal with Evergreen Fund's umbrella company, First Union Corporation, to create the new Wachovia Corporation, of which Evergreen remains a subsidiary. The new entity shed the name of First Union and assumed the Wachovia identity and stock ticker. Analysts said this move was most likely to help First Union acquire a new identity, as Wachovia's reputation was far better with consumers than First Union.

Due to the "merger of equals" Evergreen Funds and the legacy Wachovia mutual funds were merged to form and operate as the current existing Evergreen Funds.

Evergreen Investments

In 2002 Evergreen Retail and Institutional companies form and begin to operate under the umbrella asset management organization named Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC. Evergreen mutual funds are now distributed by Evergreen Investment Services, Inc. and Evergreen Service Company, LLC is the transfer agent for the Evergreen Funds. Evergreen Fund Information [http://www1.evergreeninvestments.com/eicom/pub/fundinfo.go]

OFFIT, a separate subsidiary of the legacy Wachovia, acquired in 1999, becomes Evergreen OFFIT.

Relationship with Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo

In 2003, Evergreen forms a relationship with Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., LLC (GMO) to launch an asset allocation fund of funds. This presents investors with a world class opportunity to invest in an Evergreen product with underlying GMO [http://www.gmo.com/america] institutional funds.

Key Milestones since 2003

2006 was marked by:

- The acquisition of a majority interest in Metropolitan West Capital Management, LLC, an asset management firm noted for its intrinsic value strategies.

- Evergreen also launches Wachovia Global Asset Management, the brand name under which Evergreen sells and distributes investment products outside the United States.

- Due to Wachovia Corporation’s May 2006 acquisition of Golden West Financial, a proposal was submitted to merge Golden West’s Atlas mutual funds with corresponding Evergreen Funds.

2007 was marked by:

- The Atlas funds were successfully merged to corresponding Evergreen Funds by the end of May 2007.

- Evergreen acquires majority interest in European Credit Management Limited (ECM), a London-based provider of European credit absolute return solutions.

Current:

-In July 2008, Dennis Ferro, President and CEO announced he will retire at the end of the year and that Peter Cieszko, the current president of Global Distribution, has been named to succeed Dennis Ferro as president and CEO.

Additionally, David Germany was named the new chief investment officer (CIO) and began with Evergreen in August 2008. July 9,2008 Press Release [http://www1.evergreeninvestments.com/eicom/public/news/pr/PR_07092008.jsp]