INTERNATIONAL

U.S. Firm to Establish Poland’s First Mutual Fund: Poles this spring will be able to invest in their country’s first mutual fund, according to the fund’s U.S. owner, Pioneer Group Inc. Pioneer Polish Equity Fund became the first mutual fund chartered by Poland’s State Securities Commission on Feb. 28. Shares in the fund should go on sale in May, the company said. The fund is to be 90% invested in companies traded on the 1-year-old Warsaw Stock Exchange and/or in fixed-income securities issued by the state Treasury or National Bank of Poland. Shares will be sold through a Polish bank, Bank Pekao S.A., with buyers to be charged a 5.75% load, or commission, on the purchases. So far only 11 stocks are traded on the fledgling Warsaw exchange.