NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The law firm of Murray, Frank & Sailer announces that a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all persons who purchased from UBS-AG ("UBS") Davis Funds, from May 1, 2000 through April 30, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Act of 1993 (the "Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").
The Funds, and the Symbols for the respective Davis Funds named below, are as follows:
Davis Appreciation & Income Fund (Nasdaq:RPFCX); (Nasdaq:DCSBX); (Nasdaq:DCSCX); (Nasdaq:DCSYX)
Davis Financial Fund (Nasdaq:RPFGX); (Nasdaq:DFIBX); (Nasdaq:DFFCX); (Nasdaq:DVFYX)
Davis Government Bond Fund (Nasdaq:RFBAX); (Nasdaq:VRPFX); (Nasdaq:DGVCX); (Nasdaq:DGVYX)
Davis NY Venture Fund (Nasdaq:NYVTX); (Nasdaq:NYVBX); (Nasdaq:NYVCX); (Nasdaq:DNVYX)
Davis Opportunity Fund (Nasdaq:RPEAX); (Nasdaq:RPFEX); (Nasdaq:DGOCX); (Nasdaq:DGOYX)
Davis Real Estate Fund (Nasdaq:RPFRX); (Nasdaq:DREBX); (Nasdaq:DRECX); (Nasdaq:DREYX)
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants served as financial advisors who purportedly provided unbiased and honest investment advice to their clients. Unbeknownst to investors, defendants, in clear contravention of their disclosure obligations and fiduciary responsibilities, failed to properly disclose that they had engaged in a scheme to aggressively push UBS sales personnel to steer clients into purchasing certain UBS Funds and UBS Tier I Funds (collectively, "Shelf Space Funds") that provided financial incentives and rewards to UBS and its personnel based on sales. The complaint alleges that defendants' undisclosed sales practices created an insurmountable conflict of interest by providing substantial monetary incentives to sell Shelf-Space Funds to their clients, even though such investments were not in the clients' best interest. UBS' failure to disclose the incentives constituted violations of federal securities laws.
The action also includes a subclass of persons who held any shares of UBS Mutual Funds. The complaint additionally alleges that the investment advisor subsidiary of UBS, UBS Global Asset Management created further undisclosed material conflicts of interest by entering into revenue sharing agreements with UBS financial Advisors to push investors into UBS proprietary funds, regardless of whether such investments were in the investors' best interests. The investment advisors financed these arrangements by illegally charging excessive and improper fees to the fund that should have been invested in the underlying portfolio. In doing so they breached their fiduciary duties to investors under the Investment Company Act and state law and decreased shareholders' investment returns.
The action includes a second subclass of persons who purchased a UBS Financial Plan that held Tier I mutual funds. The UBS Financial Plans include, but are not limited to UBS Personalized Asset Consulting and Evaluation Plan, InsightOne accounts, and/or a resource management accounts.
Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP and its predecessor firms have devoted its practice to shareholder class actions and complex commercial litigation for more than fifteen years and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders in class actions throughout the United States.
If you purchased any of the Davis Funds through a UBS broker between May 1, 2000 through April 30, 2005, inclusive, and sustained damages, you may, no later than September 30, 2005, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. To serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. You can join this class action as lead plaintiff online at www.murrayfrank.com. Contact plaintiff's counsel Eric J. Belfi, Christopher Hinton or Bradley Dyer to discuss this action, this announcement, or your rights or interests.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.