Aston Hill Financial Inc. through its wholly owned subsidiary Catapult Financial Management Inc., and IA Clarington Investments Inc. are teaming up to introduce three new funds, the companies said Tuesday.

Catapult Financial Inc. will act as sub-advisor for the new funds — IA Clarington Tactical Bond Fund and Class, and the IA Clarington Energy Class.

Both IA Clarington Tactical Bond Fund and IA Clarington Tactical Bond Class seek to achieve a steady flow of monthly income by investing in a mix of high quality Canadian fixed income securities as well as investment grade and higher yielding securities of North American corporate Issuers. As portfolio manager, Ben Cheng of Catapult Financial, has the flexibility within these portfolios to make broad adjustments in the allocation between higher yielding and higher quality securities, depending on the market outlook.

IA Clarington Energy Class seeks to provide long-term capital growth primarily through investments in a diversified portfolio of energy, alternative energy or related companies. The Energy Class is expected to have a relatively concentrated portfolio of 40-60 holdings, and will primarily invest in equity and equity-related securities of companies of all market capitalizations that are involved in the exploration, development, production and distribution of oil and gas and other related activities in the Canadian and Global Energy resource sector.

Cheng and Joanne Hruska of Catapult Financial will jointly sub-advise the Energy Class and will employ fundamental “bottom-up” analysis, seeking to identify superior investment opportunities with the potential for capital appreciation over the long term. This is accomplished by seeking out undervalued companies backed by strong management teams and solid business models that can benefit from both industry and macro-economic trends.

Headquartered in Calgary, Aston Hill (TSXV:AHF) and has over $2 billion in assets under management.

IA Clarington Investments Inc., a subsidiary of Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., manages more than $8.1 billion in assets as at June 30, 2010.

IE