11.   Analysts say the resources of the fund management company are important in evaluating the risk profile of an investment.

12.   And at the fund companies themselves, even the most chronically optimistic people hint at some wariness about the future.

13.   Among those contracts, the company highlighted its partnership with long-distance telephone company Alestra SA and private pension fund company Afore Zurich.

14.   Analysts at Morningstar Inc., the Chicago fund rating company, examined the bond funds in these two camps.

15.   Analysts said the announcement is likely to trigger a bidding war among U.S. and European banks and investment banks looking to purchase fund companies.

16.   Analysts who track mutual fund flows report that fund companies experienced another upturn in cash flows in the first two weeks of November.

17.   And average fund expenses have risen even as fund companies have grown larger.

18.   And even then, Dreyfus had lagged behind other fund companies mainly because it specialized in bond funds rather than the more lucrative stock funds.

19.   And fund companies have argued that the high costs of monitoring compliance with the rule have eaten into shareholder profits.

20.   And its leaders are blunt about the standards they expect fund companies to maintain.