Company Press Release

Asset manager Federated Investors Inc (FII.N), best-known for its money market funds, rehired a senior portfolio manager for one of its mutual funds at a time investors are slowly returning to stock portfolios.

Pittsburgh-based Federated, which invests $392.3 billion, said on Tuesday that it has appointed James Grefenstette as senior portfolio manager of its $353.7 million Mid Cap Growth Strategies Fund. Grefenstette managed the fund from 1994 to 2006.

David Cook, who has been the fund's manager since 2006 when Grefenstette left Federated, will stay on, the company said.

In the last 52 weeks, the fund, which counts Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH.O) and Roper Industries Inc (ROP.N) as its top holdings, returned 33.59 percent in the last 52 weeks, trailing the average mid-cap growth fund slightly.

Federated boasts a large line-up of short-term funds that often attract investors during turbulent market conditions and make up the bulk of its assets.

But now that the worst of the financial crisis appears to be over and investors are slowly returning to other stock portfolios, many asset managers are trying hard to boost inflows into stock portfolios. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)