T. Rowe Price Readies Emerging European Fund

Neither emerging markets, nor European funds are on fire this year, but T. Rowe Price is planning to roll out a fund focusing on European emerging markets.

The no-load Emerging Europe and Mediterranean fund, whose subscription period will run in August, will primarily invest in emerging European markets with a broad reach that covers Russian, Middle Eastern and northern African markets, too. The fund will focus on Croatia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Russia and Turkey, according to its preliminary prospectus on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The average emerging markets fund is down 11.4% so far this year through July 25, according to Morningstar. Europe funds are up 3.9%, on average.

The fund, which will focus on pricier, fast-growing companies, is non-diversified, meaning it will be able to make big bets on individual stocks. It will be run by Christopher Alderson, John Ford and Dale West of Rowe Price-Fleming, T. Rowe's international investment affiliate. Alderson has worked on the (PRMSX)T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock fund since 1995. That funds' 5.8% five-year annualized return isn't a huge number, but it beats more than 80% of the fund's peers, according to Morningstar.

The fund's 1.66% expense ratio is cheap compared with the Europe fund category's 1.75% average.

See Tuesday's Fund Moves, Manager Changes.

See Monday's Fund Moves, Manager Changes.

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