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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
(Rule 14A-101)
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION
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[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)
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#865784
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Timothy Holland
Alan Towers Associates
212-354-6942 - office
917-853-6592 - cell
[email protected]
LENS CALLS PIONEER GROUP ANNOUNCEMENT "INADEQUATE"
PORTLAND, Me., February 11, 2000 - Lens Investment Management, LLC, the activist
investment firm, characterized today's announcement by The Pioneer Group, Inc.
(NASDAQ: PIOG), a mutual fund manager, that it was retaining two investment
banks to explore options to increase shareholder value and adding three outside
directors to its board, as inadequate responses to the company's ongoing poor
financial performance. Lens and its affiliates, which manage in excess of $200
million of capital, own approximately 4.1% of Pioneer's outstanding common
stock.
"Pioneer's announced remedies are superficial and disappointing," said Rick
Bennett of Lens. "We plan to press the company to take more aggressive steps to
increase shareholder value. We're exploring stronger actions."
Lens is an activist investment management firm that invests in companies it
believes are underperforming in spite of strong underlying values and
susceptible to increased value through shareholder activism. Its founder and
Principal Robert A. G. Monks is an internationally recognized authority on
corporate governance and a pioneering activist investor.
(more)
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CERTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The participants in any solicitation that may be represented by the attached
press release are Lens Investment Management, LLC ("Lens") and its affiliate,
Ram Trust Services, Inc. ("Ram," and together with Lens, the "Lens Group"). In
the aggregate, the Lens Group beneficially owns 1,092,033 shares of common
stock, or 4.1% of such shares outstanding of The Pioneer Group, Inc. Although
the Lens Group has not yet determined to do so, it may file a proxy statement
with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with any solicitation
that it may make with respect to Pioneer. The Lens Group advises all Pioneer
stockholders to read any such proxy statement when it is available because it
will contain important information. Any such proxy statement will be available
at no charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov.
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