Mackenzie Investments has debuted an actively managed balanced fund with international exposure to help investors diversify beyond North America, the firm announced Thursday.
The Mackenzie GQE International Balanced Fund invests in international and emerging market equities as well as global fixed income.
The fund is collaboratively managed by Mackenzie’s global quantitative equity (GQE), fixed-income and multi-asset strategies teams.
The GQE team uses an active quantitative approach for the fund’s equity allocation, leveraging “advanced modelling and experienced human oversight to identify opportunities across developed and emerging markets,” a release said.
Meanwhile, the fixed-income team handles the global fixed-income allocation, and the multi-asset strategies team oversees the fund’s strategic asset mix.
The fund is available in several mutual fund series and has a low to medium risk rating.
TDAM introduces ETF series for target-maturity bond fund
TD Asset Management Inc. (TDAM) has introduced an ETF series of an existing target-date maturity bond mutual fund.
The TD Target 2031 Investment Grade Bond Fund – ETF Series (TSX: TBCK) began trading on Tuesday.
The fund invests in investment-grade Canadian corporate bonds denominated in Canadian dollars with a target maturity of 2031. It has a management fee of 0.2%.
In a release, TDAM said the fund can be used “within laddered bond strategies to help structure fixed-income allocations across maturities.”
It also brings the number of target-date maturity bond ETFs currently in TDAM’s product lineup to five.
This particular offering is slated to stop trading around Nov. 30, 2031, with wind-up and termination occurring shortly after that.
Canada Life announces fund changes
Canada Life Investment Management Ltd. is revamping part of its mutual fund lineup by renaming some funds, lowering fees and investment minimums, and changing fund sub-advisors and/or investment strategies.
For one, it’s changed the name of the Counsel Essentials Portfolios to the Counsel ETF Portfolios to better reflect their greater use of ETFs. The following name changes took effect Monday:
- Counsel Conservative Income Portfolio is now the Counsel Income ETF Portfolio
- Counsel Essentials Income Portfolio is now the Counsel Conservative ETF Portfolio
- Counsel Essentials Balanced Portfolio is now the Counsel Balanced ETF Portfolio
- Counsel Essentials Growth Portfolio is now the Counsel Growth ETF Portfolio
The Counsel Income ETF Portfolio’s sub-advisor has changed to Mackenzie Financial Corp., its investment strategies have been amended to primarily invest in ETFs for equity and fixed-income exposure, and its asset mix range has shifted. The Counsel Conservative ETF Portfolio’s asset mix range has changed too.
As of Monday, the IPC Private Wealth Visio Pools are now called the Counsel Visio Pools. The investment minimum for these funds has also been reduced to $25,000 from $150,000.
Canada Life is removing certain responsible-investing exclusions that applied to several funds.
And it’s updating the investment strategies and sub-advisors for select funds.
The changes take effect between now and October.
Guardian Capital completes fund merger
Guardian Capital LP says it’s completed the merger of two funds.
The Guardian i3 Global Quality Growth ETF (TSX: GIQG, GIQG.B) has merged into the Guardian i3 Global Core Equity Fund (TSX: GIGF, GIGF.F), the firm announced Monday.
After market close on Aug. 14, the hedged and unhedged ETF series of the former fund were exchanged for equivalent ETF series of the latter. GIQG and GIQG.B units were then delisted from the TSX.
Also, after the merger, Guardian increased the distribution frequency of the Guardian i3 Global Core Equity Fund to quarterly from annual.
Global X, Viewpoint update fund risk ratings
After reviewing their product lineups, Global X Investments Canada Inc. and Viewpoint Investment Partners Corp. have updated fund risk ratings.
On Friday, Global X said its Global X Intl Developed Markets Equity Index Corporate Class ETF (TSX: HXDM) now has a low to medium risk rating, down from medium. The Global X Equal Weight Canadian Banks Index Corporate Class ETF (TSX: HEWB) now has a medium to high risk rating, up a notch from medium.
And, as of Wednesday, the risk rating of class A, series F-USD of the Viewpoint Global Multi-Asset Trust has been downgraded to low to medium from medium. At the same time, the risk rating of class A, series F of the Viewpoint Enhanced Global Multi-Asset Trust has been upgraded to medium to high from medium.
RBC GAM closes fund to new investors
RBC Global Asset Management Inc. (GAM) is closing one of its funds to new investors.
In a release, it said the Phillips, Hager & North High Yield Bond Fund will be closed to new investors on Aug. 26. After that, only existing unitholders will be able to make additional investments into the fund, the release noted.
The fund was reopened to new investors earlier this month, and “recent opportunities provided the manager with additional capacity, which has now been fulfilled due to significant demand from investors,” RBC GAM said.