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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
(Rule 14A-101)
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
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[ ] Definitive Additional Materials Commission Only (as permitted)
[X] Soliciting Material Pursuant to by Rule 14a-6(e)(2)
Rule 14a-12
THE PIONEER GROUP, INC.
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(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)
LENS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC
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(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if Other Than the Registrant)
Payment of filing fee (Check the appropriate box):
[X] No Fee Required.
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filing fee is calculated and state how it was determined): Not
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NY2:\891830\01\58531.0014
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Timothy Holland Richard A. Bennett
Alan Towers Associates, Inc. Lens Investment Management, LLC
212-354-6942 207-775-4296
[email protected] [email protected]
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LENS NOMINATES 5TH CANDIDATE FOR PIONEER BOARD
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-- SEEKS MAJORITY OF BOARD SEATS --
PORTLAND, Me., March 22, 2000 - Lens Investment Management, LLC, the activist
investment firm, has nominated a fifth candidate, Mr. George W. Siguler, for the
Board of Directors of Pioneer Group, Inc., (NASDAQ: PIOG). In nominating Mr.
Siguler, who is a Managing Director at Siguler Guff & Company, a private equity
management firm, Lens is seeking a majority of the eight Pioneer Board seats up
for election at the company's 2000 Annual Meeting. That meeting is scheduled for
May 16 at 9:30 AM at the offices of Hale and Dorr in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr.
Siguler joins the previously announced Lens slate of John P. M. Higgins, Robert
B. Holmes, Robert A. G. Monks and Richard A. Bennett. A biography of Mr. Siguler
is attached.
For weeks, Lens has advocated a sale of Pioneer to the highest bidder as the
surest means of increasing shareholder value. The Lens candidates elected to
Pioneer's Board would press for the swift and successful sale of the company.
For more information on the Lens candidates and the firm's involvement with
Pioneer, see the proxy statement Lens filed in connection with Pioneer's 2000
Annual Meeting. The statement can be found at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.
Lens and its affiliates, which manage in excess of $400 million of capital, own
approximately 4.1% of Pioneer's outstanding common stock.
(MORE)
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LENS NOMINATES 5TH CANDIDATE FOR PIONEER BOARD/...PAGE 2
Commenting on the addition of Mr. Siguler to the Lens slate, Robert A. G. Monks,
founder and Chairman of Lens and a Lens candidate for Pioneer's Board said:
"George W. Siguler is a well known and respected figure in Boston's money
management community who brings 30 years of practical business and investment
management experience to his Pioneer candidacy. The fact that Lens could attract
someone of George's stature speaks to the credibility of our efforts at
Pioneer."
Lens Investment Management, LLC is an activist investment management firm that
invests in companies it believes are underperforming despite strong underlying
values and susceptible to increased value through shareholder activism. Its
founder and Chairman Robert A. G. Monks is an internationally recognized
authority on corporate governance and a pioneering activist investor.
CERTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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The persons issuing this press release (the "Participants") have filed a
preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in
connection with a solicitation of proxies with respect to Pioneer. The
Participants advise all Pioneer stockholders to read the preliminary proxy
statement because it contains important information, including the identities of
the Participants and a description of their interests. The preliminary proxy
statement is available at no charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.
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ATTACHMENT
BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE W. SIGULER
Mr. Siguler has been a Managing Director of Siguler Guff & Co., a private equity
management firm, since 1995. Before co-founding that firm, Mr. Siguler was a
Managing Director of Mitchell Hutchins Institutional Investors, Inc. and head of
its private equity group since 1991. From 1985 to 1991, he was President of
Associated Capital Investors and Executive Vice President of Monarch Capital
Corporation. He previously served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, as Associate Treasurer of Harvard University and as a
founding partner of the Harvard Management Company in the early 1970s. Mr.
Siguler also serves as a director and officer of Venture Lending & Leasing, Inc.
and as an officer of the general partner of Energy Income Fund, L.P., and Russia
Partners, each a private investment fund, and as a director of Business Mortgage
Investors, Inc., a private real estate investment trust. He is a director of
NovaCare, Inc. and a member of the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Medical
School
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3/22/00
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