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MAY 28, 2007
In A Big World, Few Open Doors Global investing is hot, and finding a good foreign mutual fund is tough. Of the 16 diversified funds rated "A" in the foreign category by BusinessWeek, only these five are still open to new investors COLUMBIA ACORN INTERNATIONAL FUND Z (ACINX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 22.2%* Expense ratio: 0.94% From their perch in Chicago, managers Zach Egan and Louis Mendes are buy-and-hold investors who search the planet looking for companies with above-average growth rates and strong balance sheets. As a result, their $4.8 billion no-load portfolio has an eclectic mix of 189 stocks, including UrAsia Energy, a Kazakhstan-based uranium miner. You'll pay a 2% redemption fee on shares held fewer than 60 days. FORWARD INTERNATIONAL SMALL COMPANY (PISRX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 25.0%* Expense ratio: 1.60% Pictet, a Swiss asset manager, runs this fund using quantitative analysis and bottoms-up research. More than 42% of the $300 million fund's assets are in European companies, such as Premiere AG, a German broadcaster. The no-load fund's expense ratio is usually 1.66%, although it has been temporarily cut to 1.60% to entice new investors. JANUS OVERSEAS FUND (JAOSX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 22.0%* Expense ratio: 0.91% Manager Brent Lynn is a fan of fast-growing companies with seasoned management teams and high returns on capital. But what makes this $7.9 billion no-load fund stand out is a well-balanced mix of large-company stocks (Sony and Samsung are top holdings) with mid- and small-company holdings. Lynn also takes concentrated country bets: Right now the fund is focused on Hong Kong, Brazil, India, and Japan. With a low expense ratio, it's also one of the cheapest foreign funds to own on our A-list. OPPENHEIMER INTERNATIONAL SMALL COMPANY (OSMAX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 31.0%* Expense ratio: 1.20% Fund manager Rohit Sah has bulked up the $2.6 billion fund with investments in Asia and Canada, and nearly 40% of the fund is invested in Canadian energy and mining stocks. That hasn't left much room for European companies, which make up less than 15%. Sah is also a fan of young companies that have gone public within the past five years. Only serious investors should apply: The minimum investment is $50,000. The fund has a front-end load of 5.75%. T. ROWE PRICE INTERNATIONAL DISCOVERY (PRIDX) 5-yr. avg. annual total return: 25.9%* Expense ratio: 1.24% Nearly half of this $2.7 billion growth fund is invested in Europe, with an additional 25% allocated to the Pacific Rim. London-based lead manager Justin Thomson looks for growth companies like Financial Technologies, an Indian outsourcer of specialty financial software. Other top holdings include Austar Communications, an Australian satellite-television company, and SGL Carbon, a German manufacturer of carbon, graphite, and composite materials. * Pretax returns through Apr. 30  By Lauren Young
BW MALL
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