Matrix Unit Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

AGENCY:

Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”).

ACTION:

Notice of application for an order under section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Act”) for an exemption from sections 12(d)(1)(A), (B), and (C) of the Act and under sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act for an exemption from section 17(a) of the Act.

Summary of Application: Applicants Matrix Capital Group, Inc. (the “Depositor”), Matrix Unit Trust (“Matrix Trust”) and unit investment trusts (“UITs”) organized in the future and sponsored by the Depositor (together with Matrix Trust, the “Trusts,” and series of the Trusts, “Series”) request an order (a) under section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act to permit Series to offer and sell to the public units (“Units”) with a sales load that exceeds the limit in section 12(d)(1)(F)(ii) of the Act; and (b) under sections 6(c) and 17(b) from section 17(a) of the Act to permit the Series to invest in affiliated registered investment companies within the limits of section 12(d)(1)(F) of the Act.

Applicants: Matrix Unit Trust and Matrix Capital Group, Inc.

Filing Dates: The application was filed on March 21, 2002. Applicants have agreed to file an amendment during the notice period, the substance of which is reflected in this notice.

Hearing or Notification of Hearing: An order granting the application will be issued unless the Commission orders a hearing. Interested persons may request a hearing by writing to the Commission's Secretary and serving applicant with a copy of the request, personally or by mail. Hearing requests should be received by the Commission by 5:30 p.m. on August 13, 2002, and should be accompanied by proof of service on applicant, in the form of an affidavit or, for lawyers, a certificate of service. Hearing requests should state the nature of the writer's interest, the reason for the request, and the issues contested. Persons who wish to be notified of a hearing may request notification by writing to the Commission's Secretary.

ADDRESSES:

Secretary, Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549-0609. Applicants: c/o Mark J. Kneedy, Chapman and Cutler, 111 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jaea F. Hahn, Senior Counsel, at (202) 942-0614, or Nadya B. Roytblat, Assistant Director, at (202) 942-0564 (Division of Investment Management, Office of Investment Company Regulation).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The following is a summary of the application. The complete application may be obtained for a fee at the Commission's Public Reference Branch, 450 Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549-0102 (tel. 202-942-8090).

Applicants' Representations

1. Matrix Trust is registered under the Act as a UIT. The Depositor, a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is the depositor for each Series. Each Series will be created under state law pursuant to a trust agreement that will contain information specific to that Series, and will incorporate by reference a master trust agreement between the Depositor and a financial institution that satisfies the criteria in section 26(a) of the Act (the “Trustee”). The trust agreement and the master trust agreement are referred to collectively as the “Trust Agreement”. Pursuant to the Trust Agreement, the Depositor will deposit into each Series shares of existing registered investment companies (“Funds”), or contracts and monies for the purchase of shares of the Funds. Each of the Funds will be a closed-end investment company (“Closed-end Fund”), an open-end investment company or a UIT. In addition, certain of the Funds may be either an open-end investment company or a UIT that has received exemptive relief under the Act to sell its shares at negotiated prices on an exchange (“Exchange Funds”).

2. The purpose of each Series is to provide retail investors with a practical, cost efficient means of investing in a diversified pool of securities of investment companies that has been professionally selected by the Depositor, and each Series' investment objective will be to seek capital appreciation, income, or any combination thereof by investing all or a portion of its assets in shares of investment companies. Applicants anticipate that certain of the Funds selected may be advised and/or distributed by the Depositor or one of its affiliates (“Affiliated Funds”). Applicants anticipate that most of the Funds selected will be unaffiliated with any of the applicants, including the Depositor (“Unaffiliated Funds”). Applicants state that the Series” investments in Affiliated and Unaffiliated Funds will comply with section 12(d)(1)(F) in all respects except for the sales load restriction of section 12(d)(1)(F)(ii).

3. The only Funds that will be eligible for inclusion in a Series are either no load Funds or Funds which, although they offer shares with a front-end sales charge to the public, agree to waive any otherwise applicable front-end sales load with respect to all shares sold or deposited in any Series. Shares of each of the Funds (except Closed-end Funds and Exchange Funds), therefore, will be sold for deposit into any Series at net asset value. Shares of Closed-end Funds and Exchange Funds will be purchased by a Series at their “market value”. Investors in a Series (“Unitholders”) will pay a specified sales load to the Depositor in connection with the purchase of their Units.

4. A Series may pay an evaluation fee with regard to determining the value of a Fund's shares. If the Trustee receives service fees under a rule 12b-1 plan from the Funds to compensate it for providing servicing and sub-accounting functions with respect to Fund shares held by a Series, the Trustee will reduce its regular fee to a Series directly by the fees it receives from the Funds and rebate any excess fees it receives to the Series. Any fees so rebated will be utilized by the Series to absorb other bona fide Series expenses. To the extent that these fees exceed the total Series expenses, the excess will be distributed along with other income earned by the Series.

Applicants' Legal Analysis

A. Section 12(d)(1) of the Act

1. Section 12(d)(1)(A) of the Act provides that no registered investment company may acquire securities of another investment company if those securities represent more than 3% of the acquired company's total outstanding voting stock, more than 5% of the acquiring company's total assets, or if the securities, together with the securities of any other acquired investment companies, represent more than 10% of the acquiring company's total assets. Section 12(d)(1)(B) of the Act prohibits a registered open-end investment company from selling its shares to another investment company if the sale will cause the acquiring company to own more than 3% of the acquired company's voting stock, or if the sale will cause more than 10% of the acquired company's voting stock to be owned by the investment companies generally. Section 12(d)(1)(C) of the Act prohibits an investment company, other investment companies having the same adviser, and companies controlled by such investment companies, from acquiring more than 10% of the outstanding voting stock of a registered closed-end management investment company.

2. Section 12(d)(1)(F) of the Act provides that section 12(d)(1) does not apply to an acquiring company if the company and its affiliated persons own no more than 3% of an acquired company's total outstanding securities, provided that the acquired company does not impose a sales load of more than 1.5%. In addition, the section provides that no acquired company may be obligated to honor any acquiring company's redemption request in excess of 1% of the acquired company's securities during any period of less than 30 days, and the acquiring company must vote its acquired company shares either in accordance with instructions from its shareholders or in the same proportion as all other shareholders of the acquired company.

3. A Series will invest in Affiliated and Unaffiliated Funds in reliance on section 12(d)(1)(F) of the Act. If the requested relief is granted, the Series will offer Units to the public with a sales load that exceeds the 1.5% limit in section 12(d)(1)(F)(ii).

4. Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act provides that the Commission may exempt persons or transactions from any provision of section 12(d)(1), if and to the extent that such exemption is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors.

5. Applicants have agreed, as a condition to the requested relief, that any sales charges and/or service fees with respect to Units of a Series will not exceed the limits set forth in rule 2830 of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (“NASD”) Conduct Rules applicable to a fund of funds. Applicants believe that it is appropriate to apply the NASD's rule to the proposed arrangement instead of the sales load limitation in section 12(d)(1)(F)(ii) because the proposed limit would cap the aggregate sales charges of the Units and the Funds. Applicants assert that the NASD's rule more accurately reflects today's regulatory environment with respect to the methods by which investment companies finance sales expenses.

6. Applicants state that, with respect to shares of Closed-end Funds and Exchange Funds held by a Series, no front-end sales load, contingent deferred sales charges or redemption fees will be charged in connection with the sale or purchase of Funds shares by a Series. Applicants state that although the Series likely will incur brokerage commissions in connection with its market purchases of shares of Closed-end Funds or Exchange Funds, these commissions will not differ materially from commissions otherwise incurred in connection with the purchase or sale of comparable portfolio securities.

7. Applicants also agree, as a condition to the requested relief, that no Series will acquire securities of a Fund which, at the time of acquisition, owns securities of any other investment company in excess of the limits contained in section 12(d)(1)(A) of the Act.

B. Section 17(a) of the Act

1. With regard to the Series' investments in Affiliated Funds, applicants request relief from section 17(a) of the Act under sections 6(c) and 17(b). Section 17(a) of the Act generally prohibits an affiliated person, or an affiliated person of an affiliated person, of a registered investment company from selling securities to, or purchasing securities from, the company. Section 2(a)(3) of the Act defines an “affiliated person” of another person to include any person directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the other person. Applicants submit that the Series and Affiliated Funds may be deemed to be affiliated persons of one another by virtue of being under common control of the Depositor. Applicants state that purchases and redemptions of share of the Affiliated Funds by a Series could be deemed to be principal transactions between affiliated persons under section 17(a).

2. Section 6(c) of the Act provides that the Commission may exempt persons or transactions from any provisions of the Act if the exemption is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors and the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the Act. Section 17(b) of the Act provides that the Commission will exempt a proposed transaction from section 17(a) if evidence establishes that: (a) The terms of the proposed transaction, including the consideration to be paid or received, are reasonable and fair and do not involve overreaching; (b) the proposed transaction is consistent with the policies of the registered investment company involved; and (c) the proposed transaction is consistent with the general purposes of the Act.

3. Applicants state that shares of Affiliated Funds will be sold to the Series at net asset value, or, in the case of Closed-end Funds or Exchange Funds, at their market value. As a result, applicants believe that the proposed terms and conditions of the Series' transactions in Affiliated Fund shares, including the consideration to be paid or received, will be reasonable and fair and will not involve overreaching on the part of any person concerned. Furthermore, applicants believe that the proposed transactions will be consistent with the policies of the each Series as recited in their registration statements, including disclosure that each Series is to hold shares of various Funds.

Applicant's Conditions

Applicants agree that any order granting the requested relief will be subject to the following conditions:

1. Each Series will comply with section 12(d)(1)(F) in all respects except for the sales load limitation of section 12(d)(1)(F)(ii).

2. Any sales charges and/or service fees (as those terms are defined in NASD Conduct Rule 2830) charged with respect to Units of a Series will not exceed the limits set forth in NASD Conduct Rule 2830 applicable to a fund of funds (as defined in NASD Conduct Rule 2830).

3. No Series will acquire securities of a Fund which, at the time of acquisition, owns securities of any other investment company in excess of the limits contained in section 12(d)(1)(A) of the Act.

4. No Series will terminate within thirty days of the termination of any other Series that holds shares of one or more common Funds.

5. The prospectus of each Series and any sales literature or advertising that mentions the existence of an in-kind distribution option will disclose that Unitholders who elect to receive Fund shares will incur any applicable rule 12b-1 fees.