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SANFORD C. BERNSTEIN FUND, INC.
Supplement dated March 11, 1999 filed pursuant to Rule 497(e) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1933 to the Statement of Additional Information
dated February 1, 1999 pursuant to Post-Effective Amendment No. 19 (File Nos.
33-21844; 811-5555), which was filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on January 22, 1999.
The thirteenth paragraph under the heading "Taxes" in the Statement of
Additional Information (page 186 of the Post-Effective Amendment filing
referred to above) shall be amended to read as follows:
Under Code Section 988, foreign currency gains or losses from forward
contracts, futures contracts that are not "regulated futures
contracts" ("Non-Regulated Futures Contracts"), and from unlisted
options will generally be treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss;
however, any Portfolio of the Fund may make an election pursuant to
Section 988(a)(1)(B) to treat any foreign currency gain or loss from
forward contracts, Non-Regulated Futures Contracts and unlisted
options as a capital gain or loss. In general, in the event such
election is made with respect to forward contracts, Non-Regulated
Futures Contracts and unlisted options that are Section 1256
contracts, 60% of the gain or loss will be treated as long-term and
40% will be treated as short-term (as described above); in the event
such election is made with respect to contracts or options that are
not Section 1256 contracts, treatment of a gain or loss as long-term
or short-term will depend upon the holding period thereof. Gains or
losses on the disposition of debt securities denominated in a foreign
currency attributable to fluctuations in the value of the foreign
currency between the date of acquisition of the security and the date
of disposition are generally treated as ordinary income or loss. Also,
gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in foreign currency
exchange rates which occur between the time the Portfolio accrues
interest or other receivables or accrues expenses or other liabilities
denominated in a foreign currency and the time the Portfolio actually
collects such receivables or pays such liabilities generally are
treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. The gains or losses
described above that are treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss
may increase or decrease the amount of the Portfolio's investment
company taxable income to be distributed to its stockholders as
ordinary income, rather than increasing or decreasing the amount of
the Portfolio's capital gains or losses. Additionally, if Code Section
988 ordinary losses exceed other investment company taxable income
during a taxable year, the Portfolio would not be able to make any
ordinary dividend distributions, and any distributions made before the
losses were realized but in the same taxable year would be
recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders, thereby
reducing each shareholder's basis in the shares.
