(November 22 – 09:50 ET) – TD Evergreen and Frank Russell Canada have formed a strategic alliance to allow TD brokers to sell the Sovereign Investment Program to their clients.

This is yet another deal that sees traditional rivals partnering to co-brand and expand their products and services.

Sovereign is scheduled to launch at TD in January 2001. This alliance is the first expansion of the Sovereign program, which was the first comprehensive multi-asset, multistyle, and multimanager pooled wrap program of its kind in Canada.

Today Sovereign has more than $4.0 billion of assets under management. RBC Dominion Securities acquired Sovereign when it took over Richardson Greenshields in 1996.

Earlier this year DS announced an agreement whereby it committed to operational improvements and increasing education and co-op marketing activity for Sovereign, while Frank Russell agreed to provide DS investment advisors with enhanced sales and advertising support. Russell purchased the Sovereign trademark and develop additional strategic alliances with other distributors

Joe Perrin, president and managing director for Frank Russell Canada, said, “Russell is very pleased to form a relationship with TD Evergreen. TD Evergreen is a top tier Canadian investment firm in terms of innovation and the quality of its advisors. Russell and TD Evergreen are a great fit in terms of culture, values and positioning at the quality end of the marketplace.”

Sovereign offers investors strategic asset allocation across seven investment pools. Each pool is diversified into multiple investment styles and implemented using multiple investment managers. Russell continuously manages and monitors the funds and their underlying managers, making changes to the managers within the program when they deem it beneficial. This process is designed to reduce the need for clients to switch mutual funds as the market environment favors or punishes various investment styles, or as money management firms change over time.

Peter Lee, president and chief operating officer of TD Evergreen said, “This agreement demonstrates our capacity to provide our clients with the highest quality investment programs. Our clients will have access to a unique and specialized range of service, enabling asset allocation services and multiple-manager strategies through the combined expertise of TD Evergreen Investment Advisors and Frank Russell Canada.”
-IE Staff