BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Oct. 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Clipper Fund, Inc. ("the Fund") announced today that the independent directors of the Fund have approved a short-list of investment management firms for further evaluation as replacements for Pacific Financial Research, Inc. (PFR). The Fund will continue to be managed in an uninterrupted fashion by James H. Gipson and his team at PFR through the end of the year. Due diligence on the candidates is underway with the new firm to be determined by the end of November.
The independent directors are conducting the evaluation following the announcement by PFR of its intention to reorganize with Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, Inc., an affiliated company, on or about January 1, 2006. The reorganization is part of a succession planning process to address the recent decision of James H. Gipson, Michael C. Sandler and Bruce G. Veaco, three of the six principals of PFR and portfolio managers of the Fund, to leave PFR at the end of this year.
"The independent directors want to assure our shareholders that no decision has been made yet about a firm to assume management of the Fund," said F. Otis Booth, one of the independent members of the Fund's board of directors. "We will of course evaluate Barrow, Hanley as a potential manager of the Fund. However, our objective continues to be to conduct a thorough search to identify the best candidates to replace Jim Gipson and his team. We are concentrating our search on firms that will continue the investment approach that Clipper Fund has followed over the years," Mr. Booth added.
As previously announced, Wilshire Associates Incorporated, a global investment consulting, investment management and investment technology firm, is assisting the independent directors in this process.
About Clipper Fund, Inc.
Clipper Fund, Inc. (Ticker:CFIMX) is a non-diversified, open-end management investment company with shares offered for sale in the United States. The objective of the Fund is to provide long-term capital growth and capital preservation. The Fund's investment adviser, Pacific Financial Research, Inc., seeks to invest the Fund's assets primarily in common stocks of large U.S. companies that are trading at prices significantly below PFR's estimate of their intrinsic values. More information on the Fund is available at www.clipperfund.com.