Northwest Mutual Funds Inc. has filed a preliminary prospectus for the initial public offering of units of Northwest High Yield Bond Trust.

The trust is a closed-end investment trust whose investment objectives are: to provide unitholders with monthly distributions; to enhance the long-term total return within the trust’s portfolio; and to return to unitholders upon the termination of the trust at least the original issue price of $10 per unit.

AmerUs Capital Management Group Inc. will be the sub-advisor for the trust, which will invest in an actively managed portfolio consisting primarily of U.S. high yield debt securities.

The trust will annually determine and announce an indicative distribution amount for the following year based upon the prevailing market conditions and the estimate by the manager and AmerUs estimate of distributable cash flow for the year. The indicative distribution for the first 12 months of the trust is 67.5¢ per unit representing a yield of 6.75% per annum based on the $10 per unit issue price.

A syndicate of agents is being co-led by CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and includes Scotia Capital Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Blackmont Capital Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp., Dundee Securities Corp., Raymond James Ltd. and Wellington West Capital Inc.

Northwest, established in 1997, had approximately $1.8 billion in assets under administration as of Nov. 30, 2005.