After embarking on a reorganization affecting eight funds earlier this year, a fresh wave of mergers is on the horizon for AIM Investments.

This time around, the Houston-based firm is targeting six funds with combined assets of at least $11.17 billion, which it plans to merge with five other funds.

The planned mergers are as follows:

AIM Aggressive Growth Fund ($1.55 billion in assets) into AIM Constellation Fund

AIM Blue Chip Fund ($1.89 billion in assets) into AIM Large Cap Growth Fund

AIM Mid Cap Growth Fund ($173 million in assets) into AIM Dynamics Fund

AIM Premier Equity Fund ($5.20 billion in assets) into AIM Charter Fund

AIM Small Company Growth Fund into AIM Small Cap Growth Fund

AIM Weingarten Fund ($2.36 billon in assets) into AIM Constellation Fund

There’s no data available on AIM Small Company Growth Fund, which has limited public sales of its shares to select investors as of March 2002.

If approved by shareholders at a February vote, the proposed restructuring will be in place by end-March 2006, the company said.

David Bachert, manager of media relations for AIM Investments, declined to provide further details, saying the company will hold off from making additional comments until it has a proxy statement for shareholders approved by the SEC. That could take about a month, he said.

AIM’s announcement seems to suggest that the company is moving to wipe out poor and mediocre performing funds from its lineup as it tries to trim costs.

But AIM Weingarten is a different story. The fund, managed by Lanny Sachnowitz since 2002, has taken series of significant steps forward, resulting in an improved relative performance and lower volatility, according to a Morningstar commentary in August. It has averaged an annual return of 13.82 percent over the last three years, compared to the typical fund in the large-growth category.

“We feel that investors can be heartened by the improved process and deeper analytical resources here, but the fund is still a good bit away from being a truly compelling choice," the Morningstar commentary read.

It’s never going to reach that point since AIM has already given up on it.

Earlier this year, AIM undertook a similar reorganization, merging eight lackluster funds into five others. The mergers were completed in July. 

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