The MRS Group of Companies and Mackenzie Financial Services Inc. are retaining AIM Funds Management Inc. as portfolio advisor for two funds – a Canadian equity and a foreign equity fund

This change will be accompanied by an adjustment to the investment objective of the foreign equity fund. The change in investment objective is subject to approval by the Fund’s investors at a special meeting to be held December 6, 2001.

“The purpose of Keystone has always been to bring together distinct investment management teams that represent expertise within their field for the benefit of independent advisors and their clients,” says Laurie Munro, president and chief executive officer, The MRS Group of Companies.

Under the proposed arrangement, the two funds, the Keystone Sceptre International Equity Fund and the Keystone Sceptre Equity Fund, are to be renamed Keystone AIM Trimark Global Equity Fund and Keystone AIM Trimark Canadian Equity Fund. As a result of the change, the two existing funds will be managed using a bottom-up, value style comparable to two flagship Trimark funds: Trimark Canadian Fund and Trimark Fund.

The proposed change in investment management to AIM’s Trimark Investments team comes after serious deliberation by Mackenzie, MRS, and Garmaise Investment Technologies Inc. about the importance of combining distinct manager styles that complement each other in the portfolios. In this case, the Trimark Investments team will offer a bottom-up value perspective.

Along with the change in management, MRS is also seeking to broaden the mandate of the foreign fund to allow the new managers to invest anywhere in the world – including the U.S. and Canada.
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