Touchstone Investments has put together an alliance with Navellier to advise that firm's Millennium and Performance Large Cap Growth Funds. Under the terms of the deal, the two funds will be folded into the Touchstone Large Cap Growth Fund. Cincinnati-based Touchstone will be the advisor to the combined fund. Meanwhile, Navellier will become the subadvisor to the merged fund.

Officials at the two firms say that the alliance is a way to marry the distribution capabilities of Touchstone to the portfolio management skills of Navellier. Touchstone, which is part of the Western & Southern Financial Group, currently offers 19 funds with some $2 billion in assets. All of those funds are subadvised.

Navellier offers five Millennium funds and nine no-load Performance funds. It is based in Reno, Nevada.

The deal is modeled after earlier ones done by John Hancock and First Union's Evergreen, say Touchstone officials. John Hancock has takes over three small funds with strong track records for its fund families. In those cases, the portfolio managers are able to remain on board, while Hancock is able to add the funds into its proprietary distribution channel. Evergreen cut a similar deal with Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterllo last fall when it took over as the advisor to that firm's Global Balanced Asset Allocation Fund in September.

"By putting Navellier -- and the investment approach that Louis Navellier has spent years perfecting -- at the helm of the fund, our shareholders will gain access to the investment expertise of a premier institutional asset manager with an established track record," said Patrick Bannigan, president of Touchstone Investments.

Louis G. Navellier, CEO and president of Navellier said that his firm will continue to manage the fund's assets as they have in the past. The firm has relied on a quantitative, bottom-up stock selection approach.  

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