(September 11 – 15:30 ET) – AIC Group of Funds is launching five new mutual funds. AIC Global Telecommunications Fund, AIC RSP Global Telecommunications Fund, AIC Global Health Care Fund, AIC RSP Global Health Care Fund, and AIC Canadian Focused Fund are now available for sale.
“These new AIC Funds provide investors with even more choice in building a diversified portfolio within the AIC Funds’ family,” says Michael Lee-Chin, chairman and chief investment officer of AIC Ltd. “These new funds will follow closely our buy-and-hold investment strategy.”
The AIC Global Telecommunications and AIC Global Health Care funds will be sub-advised by Dresdner RCM Global Investors LLC. Based in California, Dresdner RCM also manages Dresdner RCM Global Health Care Fund in the U.S. Dresdner RCM and its affiliates had approximately US$86 billion in assets under management and advice as at June 30.
AIC Global Telecommunications Fund will look for equity investment opportunities across various areas of the telecommunications landscape including wireless and wireline telecommunications services, equipment and utilities. Louise Cox and Brian Nelson of Dresdner RCM Global Investors will be the lead poftfolio advisors for the fund.
Cox is Director and head of Dresdner’s London-based team of Pan-European research analysts. She has considerable experience in the global telecommunications industry, both in the institutional and the investment banking areas, most recently heading up a large team of analysts covering the telecommunications sector. Prior to joining Dresdner in April 2000, Cox was with Credit Suisse First Boston. She has an MA from Edinburgh University.
Nelson began his investment career with Franklin Templeton Group in 1988 and worked for seven years as an equity analyst and portfolio manager covering the global telecommunications and utilities sectors. Most recently, Nelson was a senior research analyst at Salomon Smith Barney and focused on evaluating telecommunications assets owned by utilities and the potential effect of the Internet on the electric power industry. He joined Dresdner in May 2000 as a telemedia research team analyst focusing on the telecommunications services sector. Nelson has a BS in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
AIC Global Health Care Fund will provide invest in a range of companies specializing in health care products and equipment, and health care systems. Dr. Faraz Naqvi of Dresdner RCM, San Francisco, is the lead portfolio advisor for AIC Global Health Care Fund. Naqvi joined Dresdner in 1998 as an analyst in the health care group. He graduated from Colorado College Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude, with a degree in Chemistry in 1986 before studying economics as a Marshall Scholar at Cambridge University and receiving his M.D. in 1992 from Harvard Medical School. Naqvi served as a consultant for McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 1996 and was a pharmaceutical/biotechnology analyst for Montgomery Securities before joining Dresdner.
The new AIC Canadian Focused Fund will focus on a select number of businesses over a select number of industry sectors, each of these businesses having excellent growth potential. Investors in AIC Canadian Focused Fund will have exposure to select Canadian companies, many of which are currently not owned in other AIC Funds.
-IE Staff