Mentor Income and Growth Portfolio 2nd Solicitation Letter--Mentor
Investment Group letterhead--Paul Costello Signature]
'Date'
Dear Mentor Shareholder:
We recently mailed you a proxy statement containing several important proposals
outlined below. We have not yet received enough votes to approve the proposals
for the shareholder meeting scheduled for October 15, 1999.
YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT! The Fund's Trustees have carefully reviewed all the
proposals and believe they are in the best interest of shareholders. They
recommend you vote FOR the proposals.
Merger proposal:
o The merger of Mentor Income and Growth Portfolio into Mentor Balanced
Portfolio.
Broad-based proposals:
o The conversion of the Fund into a series of a Delaware business trust will
provide consistency across the fund family and flexibility compared to the
previous form of organization. In addition, Delaware law offers certain
advantages for business trusts and some important protections for
shareholders.
o Changing the investment objective to non-fundamental from fundamental and
changing certain fundamental restrictions to non-fundamental gives the Fund
and its investment adviser greater flexibility to respond to market,
regulatory or industry changes. These reclassifications are not intended to
alter the Fund's investment objective or its investment approach.
o Adopting standardized investment restrictions across all funds will help
provide operational efficiencies and make it easier to monitor compliance
with these restrictions. Standardized investment restrictions will also
make it easier for the funds and their investment advisers to respond
quickly to market, regulatory or industry developments. These changes will
not substantially affect the way the Fund is currently managed.
Convenient Ways to Vote
o Use the enclosed Proxy Card to record your vote--either FOR, AGAINST or
ABSTAIN then return the card in the postage paid envelope provided, or
o Complete the enclosed Proxy Card and FAX both sides of the card to
800.451.8683, or
o Call 800.690.6903 and record your vote by telephone. Please have your Proxy
Card at hand when you call and enter the 12 digit Control Number found on
the card, then follow the simple instructions, or
o Vote on the Internet by going to the website www.proxyvote.com or go to the
Proxy Voting link on the Evergreen Funds website at
www.evergreen-funds.com. Enter the 12 digit Control Number found on your
Proxy Card, then follow the simple instructions.
If you have already voted, thank you for your participation and please disregard
this letter.
We sincerely appreciate your vote and hope you will take a moment to help us
obtain the necessary votes to pass the proposals affecting your Fund. If you
have any questions about these proposals, please Shareholder Communications
Corporation at 800.645.7816 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern
time.
Sincerely,
Name
Title
Organization
