Colonial Global Utilities Fund
Supplement to Prospectus dated
March 1, 2000 (Replacing Supplements dated June, 5, 2000
June 23, 2000, August 1, 2000 and October 23, 2000)
The Fund's Prospectus is amended as follows
1) Effective July 14, 2000, the Fund changed its name to "Liberty Newport
Global Utilities Fund."
2) Effective January 1, 2001 Ophelia Barsketis and Deborah A. Jansen no
longer co-manage the Fund and Charles R. Roberts and Scott
Schermerhorn began co-managing the Fund. The caption
"PORTFOLIO MANAGERS" is replaced in its entirety as follows:
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Charles R. Roberts, Managing Director of International Equities, and
co-manager for the Fund. Mr. Roberts is also a senior vice president of
Newport Pacific Management, Inc. (Newport Pacific), Newport's immediate
parent. Mr. Roberts has been employed with Newport and Newport Pacific
since November, 1998. Prior to joining Newport and Newport Pacific, he
managed the European component of institutional international equity
accounts at Progress Investment Management (Progress) since 1997. Prior
to joining Progress in 1997, he managed the European component of
institutional international equity accounts and was a member of the
investment policy committee at Sit/Kim International since 1994.
Scott Schermerhorn, a senior vice president of Colonial and is a
co-manager of the Fund. Prior to joining Colonial, Mr. Schermerhorn was
the head of the value team at Federated Investors from May, 1996 to
October, 1998 where he managed the American Leader Fund, Federated
Stock Trust, Federated Stock and Bond Fund as well as other
institutional accounts. Prior to 1996, Mr. Schermerhorn was a member of
the growth and income team at J&W Seligman.
3) Effective June 5, 2000, the following information is added to the
existing information under the caption "INVESTMENT ADVISORS."
Investment Advisor. On March 15, 2000, Colonial started using Newport's
trading facilities to buy and sell foreign securities for the Fund's
portfolio. Newport executes all trades under its own procedures.
4) Effective October 23, 2000, the following caption is replaced in its
entirety as follows:
HOW TO EXCHANGE SHARES
You may exchange your shares for shares of the same share class of
another fund distributed by Liberty Funds Distributor, Inc. at net
asset value. Shareholders of Liberty Acorn funds that qualify to
purchase Class A shares at net asset value may exchange their Class A
shares for Class Z shares of another fund distributed by Liberty Funds
Distributor, Inc. (see the Statement of Additional Information for a
description of these situations). If your shares are subject to a CDSC,
you will not be charged a CDSC upon the exchange. However, when you
sell the shares acquired through the exchange, the shares sold may be
subject to a CDSC, depending upon when you originally purchased the
shares you exchanged. For purposes of computing the CDSC, the length of
time you have owned your shares will be computed from the date of your
original purchase, and the applicable CDSC will be the CDSC of the
original fund. Unless your account is part of a tax-deferred retirement
plan, an exchange is a taxable event. Therefore, you may realize a gain
or a loss for tax purposes. The Fund may terminate your exchange
privilege if the advisor determines that your exchange activity is
likely to adversely impact its ability to manage the Fund. To exchange
by telephone, call 1-800-422-3737.
<PAGE>
5) Effective August 1, 2000, the footnote to the table "Class A Sales
Charges" under the caption "Sales Charges" is revised as follows:
Class A shares bought without an initial sales charge in accounts
aggregating $1 million to $25 million at the time of purchase are
subject to a 1% CDSC if the shares are sold within 18 months of the
time of purchase. Subsequent Class A purchases that bring your account
value above $1 million are subject to a CDSC if redeemed within 18
months of the date of purchase. The 18 month period begins on the first
day of the month following each purchase. The contingent deferred sales
charge does not apply to retirement plans purchased through a fee-based
program.
The following replaces the table called "Purchases Over $1 Million"
found under the "Sales Charges" section on page 8.
Amount purchased Commission %
First $3 million 1.00
$3 million to less than $5 million 0.80
$5 million to less than $25 million 0.50
$25 million or more 0.25*
* Paid over 12 months but only to the extent the shares remain
outstanding.
For Class A share purchases by participants in certain group retirement
plans offered through a fee-based program, financial advisors receive a
1% commission from the distributor on all purchases of less than $3
million.
733-36/449E-0101 January 19, 2001
