Fidelity Will Meet With Its Customers

BOSTON —  Fidelity Investments, hit with declining market share, defections from its ranks of fund managers and subpar returns over the last year, will have meetings this month in six cities with its top clients.

“They want to reassure people that they are going to slow down the turnover of portfolio managers,” said Donald Dion, publisher of Fidelity Independent Advisor. “They’re trying to convince everyone that they have a very deep bench . . . and they can handle the turnover they have experienced.”

A Fidelity spokeswoman said the meetings will provide “our customers with an opportunity to participate in the personal exchange of information and insight with the individuals who are responsible for the investment management and business strategy at Fidelity.”

The meetings will take place in Boston, New York, Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago.

Presentations will be given by Gary Burkhead, president of Fidelity Management & Research Co.; Paul Hondros, president of Fidelity’s retail group; and Bob Reynolds, head of Fidelity’s institutional retirement group. Analysts said Magellan Fund manager Bob Stansky may also be at the meetings.

Since the beginning of December, several high-profile Fidelity fund managers, among them veterans Brian Posner, Larry Greenberg and Michael Gray, announced they would leave the company for other opportunities. Greenberg’s exit prompted Fidelity to switch managers at about 19 stock funds last week.

Analysts said the managerial changes and poor performance last year at most of Fidelity’s diversified U.S. equity funds has led some investors to cash out and caused Fidelity to lose fund industry market share.