Wachovia faces Class Action Lawsuit over Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities Fund

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of investors who held shares in Wachovia’s Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities Fund (NASDAQ: EUBAX, EUBBX, EUBCS, EUBIX), which was also known as the Evergreen Ultra Short Bond Fund prior to August 1, 2005.

On June 19, 2008, Evergreen Investments, which is the money-market division of Wachovia Bank, announced that the Ultra Short Opportunities Fund would be liquidated after it suffered losses of approximately 20%. The losses were tied to heavy investments in mortgage-backed securities, which accounted for over 70% of the assets held by the fund.

The Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities Fund class action lawsuit alleges that false and misleading statements were made about the investment strategies of the bond fund, which caused substantial losses in a very short amount of time. The complaint alleges that investors were told that the fund’s objective was to: “provide current income consistent with preservation of capital and low principal fluctuation.” However, over-exposure to the subprime mortgage market without diversification, exposed investors to more risk than they thought.

Wachovia’s Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities Fund is one of several bond funds that have suffered substantial losses this year as a result of investments in the risky mortgage-backed securities involving subprime loans. Thousands of investors who owned shares in the Schwab YieldPlus Fund (SWYPX and SWYSX), as well as investors in various Morgan Keegan bond funds are also pursing lawsuits to recover losses. Ultra short term bond funds are supposed to be relatively conservative investments, and other bond funds in the same class, which were exposed to the same market conditions, did not suffer such dramatic losses.