The Investment Funds branch of the Ontario Securities Commission has launched a new publication, The Practitioner, designed to provide an overview of recent issues that have arisen in the investment funds area.

It focuses on applications for discretionary relief, prospectuses, and continuous disclosure documents filed by investment funds with the OSC. Staff of the Investment Funds branch indicate that it has been written primarily for investment fund managers and their staff or advisors who regularly prepare public disclosure documents and applications for exemptive relief on behalf of investment funds.

“The purpose of The Practitioner is to make you more broadly aware of some of the issues we have raised in connection with our reviews of documents filed with us and how we have resolved them,” it says. “We hope that fund managers and their advisors will find this information useful and that the Practitioner can serve as a useful resource when preparing applications and disclosure documents.”

The OSC indicates that it is publishing this first edition of the Practitioner on a trial basis. It deals with issues such as: the payment of merger costs by investment funds, relief from the commingling prohibition, several prospectus disclosure issues, including the use of IFIC Risk Classification Guidelines, flow through limited partnerships, DSC switches, shelf prospectuses for linked notes, and continuous disclosure reviews.