New York Life Investment Management LLC (NYLIM) today announced that its Mainstay Small Cap Opportunity Fund will close to new investors effective close of business, June 1, 2006. 

The velocity of inflows into the Mainstay Small Cap Opportunity Fund have increased dramatically over the past year, bringing total Fund assets to over $1.0 billion from just $299 million on December 31, 2004. NYLIM currently manages an additional $325 million of institutional assets in separate accounts in this small cap value strategy, an increase of nearly $250 million since the end of   2004.

“We believe this decision is in the best interest of existing shareholders as it will allow our investment team to manage the Fund with net inflow stability,” said Chris Blunt, President of Mainstay Investments.   “The potential re-opening of the Fund will be evaluated by NYLIM and discussed with the Fund’s Board of Trustees quarterly.”

Existing shareholders, including employee benefit and retirement plans and certain wrap programs currently invested in the Fund, may continue to add to their accounts. Additionally, t he Fund will monitor trading activity during this period leading up to the Fund closure on  June 1, 2006 and may reject purchase orders if they deem them to be too large.   Furthermore, NYLIM will no longer accept new institutional investors into separately managed accounts for this small cap value strategy after  June 1, 2006. ***   

“The asset run-up is largely a function of the small cap value asset class gaining tremendous popularity based on its ranking as the best-performing US equity fund category for the past 3 and 5 years, strong absolute and relative historical performance of the Small Cap Opportunity Fund and Mainstay Investments’ expanded retail and retirement plan distribution,” concluded Mr. Blunt.

*** The Fund may close to new investors prior to  June 1, 2006 if NYLIM and the Fund’s Board of Trustees determine it is in the best interest of the Fund and its shareholders.

With $200 billion in assets under management as of January 30, 2006, New York Life Investment Management LLC(NYLIM) and its affiliates provide investment management and related services to a wide range of individual, corporate, public, and Taft-Hartley clients. NYLIM offers institutional asset management, retail investments, retirement plan services, guaranteed products, real estate investments, and alternative investments. For more information, visit NYLIM’s website at www.nylim.com .

Securities distributed by NYLIFE Distributors LLC, 169 Lackawanna Avenue, Parsippany, NJ 07054. 

Please call 1-800-MAINSTAY (1-800-624-6782) for MainStay Funds prospectuses or  visit www.mainstayfunds.com . Please consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the investment carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the investment company. Please read it carefully before you invest.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
John Puccio
Director, Corporate Communications
New York Life Investment Management LLC
John_Puccio@nylim.com
212.576.8172