CI Investments Rebrands as CI Global Asset Management

Change reflects strategic priority of modernizing asset management and corporate rebranding initiative

TORONTO (November 10, 2020) – CI Investments Inc. announced today that it is rebranding to  CI Global Asset Management (“CI GAM”), a change designed to improve the client experience and better reflect the organization’s deep and extensive investment capabilities.

“Rebranding to CI Global Asset Management is a key element of our strategy to modernize our asset management business and create a better experience for our investors,” said Kurt MacAlpine, Chief Executive Officer of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX). “The rebrand and related enhancements to portfolio management operations will allow us to leverage the full scale of our investment platform, while reducing the complexity of our offering and making it easier for investors to do business with us.”

The rebrand is underway and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The change was first announced in May 2020. With the rebrand, legacy in-house investment boutique brands will be phased out and they will operate under CI Global Asset Management. The affected brands are Cambridge Global Asset Management, Harbour Advisors, Sentry Investment Management, and Signature Global Asset Management.

In addition, CI GAM will be aligning its investment management employees according to their areas of specialization, allowing for information sharing across the firm, rather than just within each investment boutique. There will be no changes to any portfolio management assignments, team members or funds as a result of these changes and the rebrand.

“We are taking this opportunity to drive better communication and collaboration across our investment organization, which we are confident will lead to better investor outcomes,” Mr. MacAlpine said.

“Clients will benefit from the full spectrum of capabilities at CI Global Asset Management in addition to the expertise of the team currently managing their investments. We have an incredibly talented roster of investment managers and analysts, who remain in place. By aligning our teams under CI GAM, it expands our ability to leverage all of that talent and team resources to enhance the solutions we offer our clients.”

Mr. MacAlpine noted that all the portfolio management teams have fully endorsed this change. “They are working collaboratively to preserve and elevate best practices from each of the teams, while combining their common technology-based support platforms so that each unique strategy can thrive.”

Portfolio management update

Unrelated to the rebrand, Brandon Snow of Cambridge Global Asset Management, Co-Lead Portfolio Manager of Cambridge Canadian Equity Fund and Cambridge Canadian Equity Corporate Class, will be retiring in 2021 to spend more time with his family. Brandon has been working towards this timeline for the past two years and has successfully transitioned his day-to-day responsibilities to other managers.

Effective immediately, CI GAM has named Peter Hofstra as Co-Lead Portfolio Manager of the funds along with Stephen Groff, who is currently Co-Lead Portfolio Manager on both mandates.

Mr. Hofstra, Senior Portfolio Manager, has over 18 years of investment management experience and joined Harbour Advisors in 2017. He is Lead Portfolio Manager of CI North American Dividend Fund, which has performed in the top percentile of its category since he became manager in November 2017.*

Mr. Groff is an award-winning portfolio manager who has worked closely with Brandon for more than a decade. He is Lead Portfolio Manager of Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund, which won the 2019 Lipper Fund Award for the best fund in the Canadian Dividend & Income Equity Category over five years.

The funds will be managed through a collaborative approach, with Mr. Groff focusing on Canadian investments and Mr. Hofstra concentrating on non-Canadian investments.

“Brandon played an integral role in building Cambridge into the business that it is today. We thank him for his contributions to the firm and support his decision to focus on his family,” said Mr. MacAlpine. “Peter and Stephen are exceptional investors with a high degree of commonality in their approach. Both believe in running concentrated portfolios based on  fundamental research to provide alpha generation. I’m confident their collaboration on this mandate will deliver great investor outcomes.”

Mr. MacAlpine noted that this is the first instance of collaboration across CI GAM’s investment teams. “This is a perfect example of how we’re leveraging our CI GAM platform to achieve the best possible outcome for investors.”

About CI Global Asset Management

 

CI Global Asset Management is one of Canada’s largest investment management companies. It offers a wide range of investment products and services and is on the Web at www.ci.com. CI GAM is a subsidiary of  CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX), an independent company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services with approximately $202 billion in total assets as at October 31, 2020.

 

* CI North American Dividend Fund Performance

Returns (%)	1 yr	3 yr	5 yr	10 yr	Hofstra tenure (11-1-17)
CI North American Dividend Fund Series F	3.4	7.0	7.4	9.0	5.9
Canadian Dividend & Income Equity Category	-8.0	0.4	4.3	5.1	-0.5
# Funds in category	566	500	359	193	501

Source: Morningstar Research Inc. as at September 30, 2020.

 

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns net of fees and expenses payable by the fund (except for figures of one year or less, which are simple total returns) including changes in security value and reinvestment of all dividends/distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

 

The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards, granted annually, highlight funds and fund companies that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers. The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. The fund with the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value in each eligible classification wins the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Award. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com. Although Refinitiv Lipper makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Refinitiv Lipper.

 

Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund (Series D) was named Best Canadian Dividend and Income Equity Fund for five years ending July 31, 2019 out of a classification total of 59 funds (5 years), The corresponding Lipper Leader Consistent Return ratings of the fund as of 07/31/2019 were: 5 (3 years), 5 (5 years) and 5 (10 years). Performance for the Fund for the period ended September 30, 2020 was -8.1% (1 year), -0.6% (3 years), 3.7% (5 years) and 6.5% (10 years).

 

CI Global Asset Management is a registered business name of CI Investments Inc.

 

Cambridge Global Asset Management, Harbour Advisors, Sentry Investment Management, and Signature Global Asset Management are divisions of CI Investments Inc. Certain funds associated with Cambridge Global Asset Management are sub-advised by CI Global Investments Inc., a firm registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an affiliate of CI Investments Inc.

 

©CI Investments Inc. 2020. All rights reserved.

 

Contact

Murray Oxby
Vice-President, Corporate Communications
CI Global Asset Management
416-681-3254
moxby@ci.com