To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (5915 ) 6/26/2002 3:01:09 PM From: quote 007 Respond to of 17639 fyi The Vanguard Windsor Fund has been the mutual fund with the largest WorldCom position, and it upped its stake by 43% between last October and the end of April. The portfolio is co-managed by value investors Wellington Management and Sanford C. Bernstein, a unit of Alliance Capital, and as of Oct. 31, the $14.6 billion fund held about 38.2 million shares of WorldCom. By April 30, Vanguard Windsor reported holding 54.56 million shares of the telecom's stock. Officials at Wellington and Alliance declined to comment. Shares of Alliance Capital Management Holdings LP (AC), the largest publicly-traded asset manager in the U.S., have suffered since attention was first focused on its WorldCom investments in mid-May. Wednesday, Merrill Lynch analyst Bill Katz issued a research note in which he addressed the impact of Alliance Capital's WorldCom ownership. With its WorldCom Holdings representing less than 1% of the firm's assets under management, Katz said he sees "no direct impact on earnings or valuation," even if the investment's value falls to zero. However, "the news is not a positive from a 'tape' perspective and could put temporary pressure on the stock," Katz added. The analyst said he sees a potential 20% upside for the stock based on his 12-month price target of $39 a share. Alliance Capital's shares were recently down $2.29, or 6.7%, to $31.86 on volume of 743,400, compared with average daily volume of about 300,000. -By Yuka Hayashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2129; yuka.hayashi@dowjones.com -John Shipman; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5171; john.shipman@dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 06-26-02 02:59 PM