AGF today announced that it has narrowed the field of candidates to manage about $10 billion in assets to a short list of seven investment firms. An announcement on the final choices is expected in the coming weeks.

“We feel it is in the best interests of our Canadian investors and network of investment advisors to provide certainty as soon as possible,” said Blake Goldring, president and chief executive officer, AGF Management Ltd. “We are so encouraged by the rapid progress in our manager search and by the calibre of the candidate firms that we are confident we will be able to make an announcement in the coming weeks.”

The next stage focuses on an intensive process of due diligence with the finalist firms.

AGF launched a worldwide search on March 26 for new portfolio managers on the four value portfolios. Beginning with a universe of about 1,500 firms, the roster was later reduced to 100 potential candidates with the required capacity to take on these mandates. AGF announced on April 17 that only 24 firms had made the cut to qualify at the Request for Proposal stage.

“This search has attracted some of the best and brightest investment firms from around the world,” said Brian Moore, principal, Mercer Investment Consulting, which is guiding the selection process along with AGF’s Fund Analytics Department. “With these firms competing, we are very confident of a successful outcome to the search.”

“We’d like to thank investors and advisors for being patient while we have carried out our search process,” said Goldring. “The uncertainty has resulted in higher than normal redemptions in these funds, but investors appear to be heeding the prudent wait-and-see approach recommended by most advisors.”

As of April 29, net redemptions this month on the four funds (AGF International Value, AGF RSP International Value, AGF International Stock and AGF Emerging Markets) have totalled $108 million.

Goldring said he understood why net sales in these funds have reversed, while advisors await clarification on new portfolio managers. “We fully expected this slowing sales trend for the brief period between the announcement on March 26 and our appointment of a new manager,”said Goldring.