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AMERICAN GROWTH SERIES
Individual Variable Annuity Contracts
Issued by
New England Variable Life Insurance Company
NEW ENGLAND VARIABLE ANNUITY SEPARATE ACCOUNT
Supplement dated November 13, 1995
to Prospectus dated May 1, 1995
New England Variable Life Insurance Company (the "Company") is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of New England Mutual Life Insurance Company ("The New England").
The New England and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company ("MetLife") have
entered into an agreement to merge, with MetLife to be the survivor of the
merger. The merger is conditioned upon, among other things, approval by the
policyholders of The New England and MetLife and receipt of certain regulatory
approvals. The merger is not expected to occur until after December 31, 1995.
If the merger is consummated, the Company will become a direct or indirect
wholly-owned subsidiary of MetLife. The Company is not expected to be affected
by the merger except to the extent that assets of The New England may be
transferred to the Company in connection with consummation of the merger.
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The Company currently allows Contract Owners to transfer Contract Value among
Accounts without assessing any charge or limiting the number of such transfers.
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Under the Company's current rules, the minimum initial purchase payment is
$2,000 for Contracts issued in connection with retirement plans qualifying for
tax benefited treatment under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and $5,000 for
all other Contracts. Any subsequent purchase payments must be at least $250,
except that the Company will accept purchase payments as low as $100 per month
if you choose to have them withdrawn from your bank checking account or TNE
Cash Management Trust account. (This service is known as the Master Service
Account arrangement.)
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The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has repealed the state's 2% tax on annuity
payments received by insurance companies, effective January 1, 1996. Effective
immediately, the Company will not impose any premium tax charge on Contracts
that are subject to the insurance tax law of Pennsylvania.
NEW ENGLAND ZENITH FUND
Supplement dated November 13, 1995 to
Prospectus dated May 1, 1995
BACK BAY ADVISORS MONEY MARKET SERIES DRAYCOTT INTERNATIONAL EQUITY SERIES
BACK BAY ADVISORS BOND INCOME SERIES ALGER EQUITY GROWTH SERIES
LOOMIS SAYLES AVANTI GROWTH SERIES VENTURE VALUE SERIES
LOOMIS SAYLES SMALL CAP SERIES SALOMON BROTHERS U.S. GOVERNMENT
LOOMIS SAYLES BALANCED SERIES SERIES
WESTPEAK VALUE GROWTH SERIES SALOMON BROTHERS STRATEGIC BOND
OPPORTUNITIES SERIES
New England Mutual Life Insurance Company ("The New England") and
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company ("MetLife") have entered into an agreement
to merge, with MetLife to be the survivor of the merger. The merger is
conditioned upon, among other things, approval by the policyholders of The New
England and MetLife and receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The merger is
not expected to occur until after December 31, 1995.
AGS-1-95
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TNE Advisers, Inc. ("TNE Advisers"), investment adviser to each Series of New
England Zenith Fund (the "Fund"), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The New
England. The New England owns the sole general partner of New England
Investment Companies, L.P. ("NEIC") and a majority of the limited partnership
interest in NEIC. Also, the subadvisers of seven Series of the Fund offered
through this prospectus are currently wholly-owned subsidiaries of NEIC. These
subadvisers are Back Bay Advisors, L.P. Loomis Sayles & Company, L.P., Westpeak
Investment Advisors, L.P., and Draycott Partners, Ltd. The subadvisers of the
remaining four Series offered through this prospectus are not affiliated with
The New England or NEIC.
The merger of The New England into MetLife is being treated, for purposes of
the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Act"), as an "assignment" of the
existing advisory agreements for each Series and of the subadvisory agreements
of the Series that have NEIC subsidiaries as subadvisers. Under the Act, such
an "assignment" will result in an automatic termination of these agreements.
The subadvisory agreements for the other four Series terminate automatically,
by their terms, upon any termination of TNE Advisers' advisory agreement with
the Fund. Thus, those subadvisory agreements will also terminate at the time of
the merger.
Prior to the merger, shareholders of the Series will be asked to approve new
investment advisory and subadvisory agreements, intended to take effect at the
time of the merger. The new agreements are expected to be substantially
identical to the existing agreements. Prior to the shareholder vote regarding
the agreements, a proxy statement describing them in more detail will be sent
to those Contract Owners who are entitled to give instructions as to how shares
of the Series should be voted.
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DRAYCOTT INTERNATIONAL EQUITY SERIES
Draycott Partners, Ltd. ("Draycott") serves as subadviser to the Draycott
International Equity Series (the "Series"). Draycott's parent, NEIC, has agreed
to sell Draycott to Cursitor Holdings Ltd. U.K. ("Cursitor"). The sale is
expected to occur in late December, 1995. Under the Act, the sale will
constitute a change in control of Draycott, which will terminate the current
subadvisory agreement between Draycott and TNE Advisers. Cursitor,
headquartered at 66 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AU, England, is an investment
advisory holding company that had approximately $9.4 billion under management
at September 30, 1995.
Subsequent to the acquisition of Draycott by Cursitor, Cursitor itself is
expected to be acquired by Alliance Capital Management, L.P. ("Alliance"). This
transaction would result in Draycott becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of a
new entity, Cursitor Alliance LLC, in which Alliance would own a 93% interest.
Alliance Capital Management Corporation, the sole general partner of, and the
owner of a 1% general partnership interest in, Alliance, is an indirect wholly-
owned subsidiary of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States,
which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Equitable Companies Incorporated, a
holding company controlled by AXA, a French insurance holding company. If
consummated, the transaction would constitute a further change in control of
Draycott, which would again terminate the subadvisory agreement between
Draycott and TNE Advisers.
No changes in the Series' investment objective or policies, or in the
portfolio management personnel responsible for the Series' day-to-day
investment management, are contemplated in connection with either transaction.
Before either transaction is effected, shareholders of the Series will be asked
to approve new subadvisory agreements intended to take effect in the event the
transactions are consummated. The new subadvisory agreements are expected to be
identical in substance to the existing subadvisory agreement. Prior to the
shareholder vote regarding the new subadvisory agreements, a proxy statement
describing them in more detail will be sent to those Contract Owners who are
entitled to give instructions as to how shares of the Series should be voted.
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ALGER EQUITY GROWTH SERIES
The trustees of the Fund have approved a new investment advisory agreement
between the Fund and TNE Advisers and a new subadvisory agreement between TNE
Advisers and Fred Alger Management, Inc.
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("Alger"), both relating to the Alger Equity Growth Series (the "Series") of
the Fund. The new advisory and subadvisory agreements would increase the fee
rates payable by the Series to TNE Advisers and payable by TNE Advisers to
Alger, effective May 1, 1996. The annual rate of the fee payable by the Series
to TNE Advisers under the new advisory agreement would be 0.75% of the Series'
average daily net assets, as compared to the current fee rate of 0.70%. The
annual rate of the fee payable by TNE Advisers to Alger under the new
subadvisory agreement would be 0.45% of the first $100,000,000 of the Series'
average daily net assets, 0.40% of the next $400,000,000 of such assets and
0.35% of such assets in excess of $500,000,000. A meeting of the Series'
shareholders will be held for the purpose of voting to approve or disapprove
the new agreements. The new agreements will not take effect unless they are
approved by vote of the Series' shareholders at the meeting. A proxy statement
describing the new agreements in more detail will be sent in advance of the
meeting to those Contract Owners who are entitled to give instructions as to
how shares of the Series should be voted at the meeting.
Effective January 1, 1996, TNE Advisers will modify the expense deferral
arrangement that currently applies to the Series by raising the expense limit
from 0.85% to 0.90% of the Series' net assets. Pursuant to the expense deferral
arrangement, TNE Advisers defers those operating expenses (other than brokerage
costs, interest, taxes and extraordinary expenses) in excess of the expense
limit until a subsequent year, if any, when total expenses are less than the
limit. (See "Expense Deferral Arrangement" under the section of the prospectus
entitled "Management.")
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LOOMIS SAYLES SMALL CAP SERIES
The following information reflects changes in the investment management and
policies of the Loomis Sayles Small Cap Series (the "Series"):
Jeffrey C. Petherick, Vice President of Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P.
("Loomis Sayles") and New England Zenith Fund, and Mary Champagne, Vice
President of Loomis Sayles, have day-to-day management responsibility for the
Series. Mr. Petherick has co-managed the Series since its inception. Mr.
Petherick was an investment manager at Masco Corporation prior to joining
Loomis Sayles in 1990. Ms. Champagne has co-managed the Series since July 1995.
Prior to joining Loomis Sayles in 1993, Ms. Champagne served as a portfolio
manager at NBD Bank for 10 years.
Loomis Sayles manages the Series by investing primarily in stocks of small
cap companies with good earnings growth potential that Loomis Sayles believes
are undervalued by the market. Loomis Sayles seeks to build a core small cap
portfolio of solid growth companies' stock with a smaller emphasis on special
situations and turnarounds (companies that have experienced significant
business problems but which Loomis Sayles believes have favorable prospects for
recovery), as well as unrecognized stocks.
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VENTURE VALUE SERIES
Selected/Venture Advisers, L.P., sub-adviser to the Venture Value Series
("the Series"), changed its name to Davis Selected Advisers, L.P. ("Davis
Selected") on October 1, 1995. Venture Advisers, Inc. is the sole general
partner of Davis Selected, which, in turn, is controlled by Shelby M. C. Davis.
Shelby M. C. Davis, a director of Venture Advisers, Inc. since 1968, was
primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series from its
inception through September, 1995. Since October 1995, Mr. Davis and
Christopher C. Davis have co-managed the Series. Christopher C. Davis is a
Portfolio Manager at Davis Selected and a director of Venture Advisers, Inc.
and has been employed by Davis Selected since 1989.
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