While consolidation has yet to surface among money market mutual funds, fund name changes and complex rebranding continue to pick up. Recently, we've seen the ABN Amro/Aston Funds become the Fortis Funds, the BNY Hamilton Funds become Dreyfus Institutional Reserves, the Lehman Brothers Funds become Neuberger Berman, and the Phoenix Insight Funds become the Virtus Insight Funds. Now, the `Bank of Oklahoma-affiliated American Performance Funds have changed their name to the Cavanal Hill Funds. (Our upcoming December issue of Money Fund Intelligence will feature an interview with Cavanal Hill Portfolio Managers Mike Kitchen and Rich Williams.)
The company's name-change notice says, "Although our name is changing, we remain committed to providing the same dedication to service and performance you have come to expect from our fund family.... Each fund's investment management team, objective, strategy and ticker symbol will remain the same.... Renaming our fund family to Cavanal Hill Funds provides a clear association between the fund family and its long-standing investment adviser, Cavanal Hill Investment Management, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Oklahoma."
In other news, Standard & Poor's has rated Oppenheimer Money Market Fund, Orange County Money Market Fund, and Orange County Educational Money Market Fund 'AAAm'. The Oppenheimer release says, "Standard & Poor's Rating Services said today that it assigned its 'AAAm' principal stability fund rating to the Oppenheimer Money Market Fund Inc. The rating -- the highest assigned to money-market mutual funds -- is based on our analysis of the fund's credit quality, market price exposure, and management.... The Oppenheimer Money Market Fund Inc. has been in operation since 1974 and serves a retail client base. The fund targets a stable $1.00 net asset value and will be managed in a manner consistent with a 'AAAm' rated fund."
Regarding Orange County, California, S&P says these funds are "[T]he first 'AAAm' ratings assigned to a California county government investment pool. The ratings are based on our analysis of the funds' high credit quality, low market-price exposure, and management. The ratings reflect the funds' extremely strong capacity to maintain principal stability and to limit exposure to principal losses due to credit, market, and/or liquidity risks. We review pertinent fund information and portfolio reports weekly as part of our ongoing rating process."
