October 3, 1994
DREYFUS GROWTH OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.
SUPPLEMENT TO PROSPECTUS DATED APRIL 21, 1994
THE FOLLOWING ANTICIPATED CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED:
I. CONSUMMATION OF THE MERGER
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTS AND SUPERSEDES ANY CONTRARY
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS.
On this date, the previously announced merger between The Dreyfus
Corporation ("Dreyfus") and a subsidiary of Mellon Bank Corporation
("Mellon") was completed, and as a result, Dreyfus now is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Mellon Bank, N.A. instead of a publicly-owned corporation.
Mellon is a publicly-owned multibank holding company incorporated
under Pennsylvania law in 1971 and registered under the Federal Bank Holding
Company Act of 1956, as amended. Mellon provides a comprehensive range of
financial products and services in domestic and selected international
markets. Mellon is among the twenty-five largest bank holding companies in
the United States based on total assets. Mellon's principal wholly-owned
subsidiaries are Mellon Bank, N.A., Mellon Bank (DE) National Association,
Mellon Bank (MD), The Boston Company, Inc., AFCO Credit Corporation and a
number of companies known as Mellon Financial Services Corporations. Through
its subsidiaries, Mellon managed more than $130 billion in assets as of July
31, 1994, including approximately $6 billion in mutual fund assets. As of
June 30, 1994, various subsidiaries of Mellon provided non-investment
services, such as custodial or administration services, for approximately
$747 billion in assets, including approximately $97 billion in mutual fund
assets.
II. NEW DISTRIBUTOR
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION SUPERSEDES AND REPLACES ANY CONTRARY
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS AND SPECIFICALLY IN THE
SECTION ENTITLED "HOW TO BUY FUND SHARES."
The Fund's distributor is Premier Mutual Fund Services, Inc. (the
"Distributor"), located at One Exchange Place, Boston, Massachusetts 02109.
The Distributor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Institutional Administration
Services, Inc., a provider of mutual fund administration services, the parent
company of which is Boston Institutional Group, Inc.
Accordingly, references in the Prospectus to Dreyfus Service
Corporation as the Fund's distributor should be substituted with Premier
Mutual Fund Services, Inc.
III.RESULTS OF FUND SHAREHOLDER VOTE
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTS AND SUPERSEDES ANY CONTRARY
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS.
On August 2, 1994, the Fund's shareholders voted to (a) approve a new
investment advisory agreement with Dreyfus, which became effective upon
consummation of the merger between Dreyfus and a subsidiary of Mellon, and
(b) change certain of the Fund's fundamental policies and investment
restrictions to permit the Fund to (i) borrow money to the extent permitted
under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, (ii) pledge its assets
to the extent necessary to secure permitted borrowings and make such policy
non-fundamental, (iii) sell securities short, (iv) lend its portfolio
securities in an amount not to exceed 33-1/3% of the value of its total
assets, and (v) purchase and sell options and engage in futures transactions
to the extent described below.
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IV. REVISED MANAGEMENT POLICIES
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTS AND SHOULD BE READ IN
CONJUNCTION WITH THE SECTION IN THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS ENTITLED "DESCRIPTION
OF THE FUND--MANAGEMENT POLICIES."
BORROWING MONEY -- As a fundamental policy, the Fund is permitted to
borrow to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
However, the Fund currently intends to borrow money only for temporary or
emergency (not leveraging) purposes, in an amount up to 15% of the value of
the Fund's total assets (including the amount borrowed) valued at the lesser
of cost or market, less liabilities (not including the amount borrowed) at
the time the borrowing is made. While borrowings exceed 5% of the Fund's
total assets, the Fund will not make any additional investments.
SHORT-SELLING -- The Fund may make short sales, which are
transactions in which the Fund sells a security it does not own in
anticipation of a decline in the market value of that security. To complete
such a transaction, the Fund must borrow the security to make delivery to the
buyer. The Fund then is obligated to replace the security borrowed by
purchasing it at the market price at the time of replacement. The price at
such time may be more or less than the price at which the security was sold
by the Fund. Until the security is replaced, the Fund is required to pay to
the lender amounts equal to any dividends or interest which accrue during the
period of the loan. To borrow the security, the Fund also may be required to
pay a premium, which would increase the cost of the security sold. The
proceeds of the short sale will be retained by the broker, to the extent
necessary to meet margin requirements, until the short position is closed
out.
Until the Fund closes its short position or replaces the borrowed
security, the Fund will: (a) maintain a segregated account, containing cash
or U.S. Government securities, at such a level that (i) the amount deposited
in the account plus the amount deposited with the broker as collateral will
equal the current value of the security sold short and (ii) the amount
deposited in the segregated account plus the amount deposited with the broker
as collateral will not be less than the market value of the security at the
time it was sold short; or (b) otherwise cover its short position.
The Fund will incur a loss as a result of the short sale if the price
of the security increases between the date of the short sale and the date on
which the Fund replaces the borrowed security. The Fund will realize a gain
if the security declines in price between those dates. This result is the
opposite of what one would expect from a cash purchase of a long position in
a security. The amount of any gain will be decreased, and the amount of any
loss increased, by the amount of any premium or amounts in lieu of dividends
or interest the Fund may be required to pay in connection with a short sale.
The Fund may purchase call options to provide a hedge against an
increase in the price of a security sold short by the Fund. When the Fund
purchases a call option it has to pay a premium to the person writing the
option and a commission to the broker selling the option. If the option is
exercised by the Fund, the premium and the commission paid may be more than
the amount of the brokerage commission charged if the security were to be
purchased directly. See "Call and Put Options on Specific Securities" below.
The Fund anticipates that the frequency of short sales will vary
substantially under different market conditions, and it does not intend that
any specified portion of its assets, as a matter of practice, will be
invested in short sales. However, no securities will be sold short if, after
effect is given to any such short sale, the total market value of all
securities sold short would exceed 25% of the value of the Fund's net assets.
The Fund may not sell short the securities of any single issuer listed on a
United States national securities exchange to the extent of more than 5% of
the value of
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the Fund's net assets. The Fund may not sell short the
securities of any class of an issuer to the extent, at the time of the
transaction, of more than 5% of the outstanding securities of that class.
In addition to the short sales discussed above, the Fund may make
short sales "against the box," a transaction in which the Fund enters into a
short sale of a security which the Fund owns. The proceeds of the short sale
will be held by a broker until the settlement date at which time the Fund
delivers the security to close the short position. The Fund receives the net
proceeds from the short sale. The Fund at no time will have more than 15% of
the value of its net assets in deposits on short sales against the box. It
currently is anticipated that the Fund will make short sales against the box
for purposes of protecting the value of the Fund's net assets.
The Fund also may maintain short positions in forward currency
exchange transactions, which would involve the Fund agreeing to exchange an
amount of a currency it did not currently own for another currency at a
future date in anticipation of a decline in the value of the currency sold
relative to the currency the Fund contracted to receive in the exchange. The
Fund will maintain in a segregated custodial account cash or U.S. Government
securities or other high quality liquid debt securities at least equal to the
aggregate amount of its short positions, plus accrued interest, in certain
cases, in accordance with releases promulgated by the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
OPTIONS ON FOREIGN CURRENCY -- The Fund may purchase and sell call and put
options on foreign currency for the purpose of hedging against changes in
future currency exchange rates. Call options convey the right to buy the
underlying currency at a price which is expected to be lower than the spot
price of the currency at the time the option expires. Put options convey the
right to sell the underlying currency at a price which is anticipated to be
higher than the spot prices of the currency at the time the option expires.
The Fund may use foreign currency options for the same purposes as forward
currency exchange and futures transactions, as described herein. See also
"Call and Put Options on Specific Securities" and "Currency Futures and
Options on Currency Futures" below.
CALL AND PUT OPTIONS ON SPECIFIC SECURITIES -- The Fund may invest up to 5%
of its assets, represented by the premium paid, in the purchase of call and
put options in respect of specific securities (or groups or "baskets" of
specific securities) in which the Fund may invest. The Fund may write covered
call and put option contracts to the extent of 20% of the value of its net
assets at the time such option contracts are written. A call option gives the
purchaser of the option the right to buy, and obligates the writer to sell,
the underlying security at the exercise price at any time during the option
period. Conversely, a put option gives the purchaser of the option the right
to sell, and obligates the writer to buy, the underlying security at the
exercise price at any time during the option period. A covered call option
sold by the Fund, which is a call option with respect to which the Fund owns
the underlying security or securities, exposes the Fund during the term of
the option to possible loss of opportunity to realize appreciation in the mark
et price of the underlying security or securities or to possible continued
holding of a security or securities which might otherwise have been sold to
protect against depreciation in the market price thereof. A covered put
option sold by the Fund exposes the Fund during the term of the option to a
decline in price of the underlying security or securities. A put option sold
by the Fund is covered when, among other things, cash or liquid securities
are placed in a segregated account with the Fund's custodian to fulfill the
obligation undertaken.
To close out a position when writing covered options, the Fund may
make a "closing purchase transaction," which involves purchasing an option on
the same security or securities with the same
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exercise price and expiration
date as the option which it has previously written. To close out a position
as a purchaser of an option, the Fund may make a "closing sale transaction,"
which involves liquidating the Fund's position by selling the option
previously purchased. The Fund will realize a profit or loss from a closing
purchase or sale transaction depending upon the difference between the amount
paid to purchase an option and the amount received from the sale thereof.
The Fund intends to treat options in respect of specific securities
that are not traded on a U.S. or foreign national securities exchange and the
securities underlying covered call options written by the Fund as illiquid
securities. See "Certain Portfolio Securities--Illiquid Securities" above.
The Fund will purchase options only to the extent permitted by the
policies of state securities authorities in states where shares of the Fund
are qualified for offer and sale.
STOCK INDEX OPTIONS -- The Fund may purchase and write put and call options
on stock indexes listed on U.S. or foreign securities exchanges or traded in
the over-the-counter market. A stock index fluctuates with changes in the
market values of the stocks included in the index.
The effectiveness of purchasing or writing stock index options will
depend upon the extent to which price movements in the Fund's investments
correlate with price movements of the stock index selected. Because the value
of an index option depends upon movements in the level of the index rather
than the price of a particular stock, whether the Fund will realize a gain or
loss from the purchase or writing of options on an index depends upon
movements in the level of stock prices in the stock market generally or, in
the case of certain indexes, in an industry or market seg-ment, rather than
movements in the price of a particular stock. Accordingly, successful use by
the Fund of options on stock indexes will be subject to Dreyfus' ability to
predict correctly movements in the direction of the stock market generally or
of a particular industry. This requires different skills and techniques than
predicting changes in the price of individual stocks.
When the Fund writes an option on a stock index, the Fund will place
in a segregated account with its custodian or sub-custodian cash or liquid
securities in an amount at least equal to the market value of the underlying
stock index and will maintain the account while the option is open or
otherwise will cover the transaction.
FUTURES TRANSACTIONS--IN GENERAL -- The Fund will not be a commodity pool.
However, as a substitute for a comparable market position in the underlying
securities and for hedging purposes, the Fund may engage in futures and
options on futures transactions, as described below.
The Fund may trade futures contracts and options on futures contracts
in U.S. domestic markets, such as the Chicago Board of Trade and the
International Monetary Market of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or, to the
extent permitted under applicable law, on exchanges located outside the
United States, such as the London International Financial Futures Exchange
and the Sydney Futures Exchange Limited. Foreign markets may offer advantages
such as trading in commodities that are not currently traded in the United
States or arbitrage possibilities not available in the United States. Foreign
markets, however, may have greater risk potential than domestic markets. See
"Risk Factors--Foreign Commodity Transactions" below.
The Fund's commodities transactions must constitute bona fide hedging
or other permissible transactions pursuant to regulations promulgated by the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC"). In addition, the Fund may
not engage in such transactions if the sum of the amount of initial margin
deposits and premiums paid for unexpired commodity options, other than for
bona fide hedging transactions, would exceed 5% of the liquidation value of
the Fund's assets, after taking into account unrealized profits and
unrealized losses on such contracts it has entered into; provided, however,
that in the case of an option that is in-the-money at the
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time of purchase,
the in-the-money amount may be excluded in calculating the 5%. Pursuant to
regulations and/or published positions of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, the Fund may be required to segregate cash or high quality money
market instruments in connection with its commodities transactions in an
amount generally equal to the value of the underlying commodity.
Initially, when purchasing or selling futures contracts the Fund will
be required to deposit with its custodian in the broker's name an amount of
cash or cash equivalents up to approximately 10% of the contract amount. This
amount is subject to change by the exchange or board of trade on which the
contract is traded and members of such exchange or board of trade may impose
their own higher requirements. This amount is known as "initial margin" and
is in the nature of a performance bond or good faith deposit on the contract
which is returned to the Fund upon termination of the futures position,
assuming all contractual obligations have been satisfied. Subsequent
payments, known as "variation margin," to and from the broker will be made
daily as the price of the index or securities underlying the futures contract
fluctuates, making the long and short positions in the futures contract more
or less valuable, a process known as "marking-to-market." At any time prior
to the expiration of a futures contract, the Fund may elect to close the
position by taking an opposite position, at the then prevailing price, which
will operate to terminate the Fund's existing position in the contract.
Although the Fund intends to purchase or sell futures contracts only
if there is an active market for such contracts, no assurance can be given
that a liquid market will exist for any particular contract at any particular
time. Many futures exchanges and boards of trade limit the amount of
fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day.
Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may
be made that day at a price beyond that limit or trading may be suspended for
specified periods during the trading day. Futures contract prices could move
to the limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading,
thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and potentially
subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. If it is not possible, or the Fund
determines not, to close a futures position in anticipation of adverse price
movements, the Fund will be required to make daily cash payments of variation
margin. In such circumstances, an increase in the value of the portion of the
portfolio being hedged, if any, may offset partially or completely losses on
the futures contract. However, no assurance can be given that the price of
the securities being hedged will correlate with the price movements in a
futures contract and thus provide an offset to losses on the futures
contract.
In addition, to the extent the Fund is engaging in a futures
transaction as a hedging device, due to the risk of an imperfect correlation
between securities in the Fund's portfolio that are the subject of a hedging
transaction and the futures contract used as a hedging device, it is possible
that the hedge will not be fully effective in that, for example, losses on
the portfolio securities may be in excess of gains on the futures contract or
losses on the futures contract may be in excess of gains on the portfolio
securities that were the subject of the hedge. In futures contracts based on
indexes, the risk of imperfect correlation increases as the composition of
the Fund's portfolio varies from the composition of the index. In an effort
to compensate for the imperfect correlation of movements in the price of the
securities being hedged and movements in the price of futures contracts, the
Fund may buy or sell futures contracts in a greater or lesser dollar amount
than the dollar amount of the securities being hedged if the historical
volatility of the futures contract has been less or greater than that of the
securities. Such "over hedging" or "under hedging" may adversely affect the
Fund's net investment results if market movements are not as anticipated when
the hedge is established.
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Successful use of futures by the Fund also is subject to Dreyfus'
ability to predict correctly movements in the direction of the market or
interest rates. For example, if the Fund has hedged against the possibility
of a decline in the market adversely affecting the value of securities held
in its portfolio and prices increase instead, the Fund will lose part or all
of the benefit of the increased value of securities which it has hedged
because it will have offsetting losses in its futures positions. In addition,
in such situations, if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell
securities to meet daily variation margin requirements. Such sales of
securities may, but will not necessarily, be at increased prices which
reflect the rising market. The Fund may have to sell securities at a time
when it may be disadvantageous to do so.
An option on a futures contract gives the purchaser the right, in
return for the premium paid, to assume a position in a futures contract (a
long position if the option is a call and a short position if the option is a
put) at a specified exercise price at any time during the option exercise
period. The writer of the option is required upon exercise to assume an
offsetting futures position (a short position if the option is a call and a
long position if the option is a put). Upon exercise of the option, the
assumption of offsetting futures positions by the writer and holder of the
option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated cash balance in the
writer's futures margin account which represents the amount by which the
market price of the futures contract, at exercise, exceeds, in the case of a
call, or is less than, in the case of a put, the exercise price of the option
on the futures contract.
Call options sold by the Fund with respect to futures contracts will
be covered by, among other things, entering into a long position in the same
contract at a price no higher than the strike price of the call option, or by
ownership of the instruments underlying, or instruments the prices of which
are expected to move relatively consistently with the instruments underlying,
the futures contract. Put options sold by the Fund with respect to futures
contracts will be covered in the same manner as put options on specific
securities as described above.
STOCK INDEX FUTURES AND OPTIONS ON STOCK INDEX FUTURES -- The Fund may
purchase and sell stock index futures contracts and options on stock index
futures contracts.
A stock index future obligates the seller to deliver (and the
purchaser to take) an amount of cash equal to a specific dollar amount times
the difference between the value of a specific stock index at the close of
the last trading day of the contract and the price at which the agreement is
made. No physical delivery of the underlying stocks in the index is made.
With respect to stock indexes that are permitted investments, the Fund
intends to purchase and sell futures contracts on
the stock index for which it can obtain the best price with consideration
also given to liquidity.
The Fund may use index futures as a substitute for a comparable
market position in the underlying securities.
The price of stock index futures may not correlate perfectly with the
movement in the stock index because of certain market distortions. First, all
participants in the futures market are subject to margin deposit and
maintenance requirements. Rather than meeting additional margin deposit
requirements, investors may close futures contracts through offsetting
transactions which would distort the normal relationship between the index
and futures markets. Secondly, from the point of view of speculators, the
deposit requirements in the futures market are less onerous than margin
requirements in the securities market. Therefore, increased participation by
speculators in the futures market also may cause temporary price distortions.
CURRENCY FUTURES AND OPTIONS ON CURRENCY FUTURES -- The Fund may purchase and
sell currency futures contracts and options thereon. See "Call and Put
Options on Specific Securities"
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above. By selling foreign currency futures,
the Fund can establish the number of U.S. dollars it will receive in the
delivery month for a certain amount of a foreign currency. In this way, if
the Fund anticipates a decline of a foreign currency against the U.S. dollar,
the Fund can attempt to fix the U.S. dollar value of some or all of its
securities that are denominated in that currency. By purchasing foreign
currency futures, the Fund can establish the number of U.S. dollars it will
be required to pay for a specified amount of a foreign currency in the
delivery month. Thus, if the Fund intends to buy securities in the future and
expects the U.S. dollar to decline against the relevant foreign currency
during the period before the purchase is effected, the Fund, for the price of
the currency future, can attempt to fix the price in U.S. dollars of the
securities it intends to acquire.
The purchase of options on currency futures will allow the Fund, for
the price of the premium it must pay for the option, to decide whether or not
to buy (in the case of a call option) or to sell (in the case of a put
option) a futures contract at a specified price at any time during the period
before the option expires. If the Fund, in purchasing an option, has been
correct in its judgment concerning the direction in which the price of a
foreign currency would move as against the U.S. dollar, it may exercise the
option and thereby take a futures position to hedge against the risk it had
correctly anticipated or close out the option position at a gain that will
offset, to some extent, currency exchange losses otherwise suffered by the
Fund. If exchange rates move in a way the Fund did not anticipate, the Fund
will have incurred the expense of the option without obtaining the expected
benefit. As a result, the Fund's profits on the underlying securities
transactions may be reduced or overall losses incurred.
OPTIONS ON SWAPS -- The Fund may purchase cash-settled options on
interest rate swaps, interest rate swaps denominated in foreign currency and
equity index swaps. Interest rate swaps involve the exchange by the Fund with
another party of their respective commitments to pay or receive interest (for
example, an exchange of floating-rate payments for fixed-rate payments)
denominated in U.S. dollars or foreign currency. Equity index swaps involve
the exchange by the Fund with another party of cash flows based upon the
performance of an index or a portion of an index of securities which usually
includes dividends. A cash-settled option on a swap gives the purchaser the
right, but not the obligation, in return for the premium paid, to receive an
amount of cash equal to the value of the underlying swap as of the exercise
date. These options typically are purchased in privately negotiated
transactions from financial institutions, including securities brokerage
firms.
LENDING PORTFOLIO SECURITIES -- From time to time, the Fund may lend
securities from its portfolio to brokers, dealers and other financial
institutions needing to borrow securities to complete certain transactions.
Such loans may not exceed 33-1/3% of the value of the Fund's total assets. In
connection with such loans, the Fund will receive collateral consisting of
cash, or irrevocable letters of credit which will be maintained at all times
in an amount equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the loaned
securities. The Fund can increase its income through the investment of such
collateral. The Fund continues to be entitled to payments in amounts equal to
the interest, dividends and other distributions payable on the loaned
security and receives interest on the amount of the loan. Such loans will be
terminable at any time upon specified notice. The Fund might experience risk
of loss if the institution with which it has engaged in a portfolio loan
transaction breaches its agreement with the Fund.
RISK FACTORS--FOREIGN COMMODITY TRANSACTIONS -- Unlike trading on
domestic commodity exchanges, trading on foreign commodity exchanges is not
regulated by the CFTC and may be subject to greater risks than trading on
domestic exchanges. For example, some foreign
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exchanges are principal markets
so that no common clearing facility exists and a trader may look only to the
broker for performance of the contract. In addition, unless the Fund hedges
against fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the
currencies in which trading is done on foreign exchanges, any profits that
the Fund might realize in trading could be eliminated by adverse changes in
the exchange rate, or the Fund could incur losses as a result of those
changes. Transactions on foreign exchanges may include both commodities which
are traded on domestic exchanges and those which are not.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION SUPERSEDES AND REPLACES THE SECOND AND
THIRD SENTENCES OF THE SECOND PARAGRAPH UNDER THE SECTION ENTITLED
"MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND:"
The Fund's primary portfolio manager is Ernest G. Wiggins, Jr. Mr.
Wiggins joined The Dreyfus Corporation in January 1994. Prior thereto, he was
President of Gabelli International from 1992 to 1993; from 1980 to 1992, he
was employed by Fidelity Management and Research Company, serving as Manager
of Fidelity Value Fund from 1982 to 1990.
018/stkr100394
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