Fairway Investment Grade Income Fund today completed its initial public offering of 5 million units at a price of $10 per unit, for gross proceeds of $50 million. Units of the fund are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FGF.UN.
According to the fund’s manager, Fairway Advisors Inc., the fund is designed to provide investors with a stable income stream through the active management of a portfolio consisting primarily of investment grade corporate bonds and investment grade hybrid preferred securities of principally United States and Canadian issuers.
The portfolio will be managed by MFC Global Investment Management (Canada), the institutional investment arm of Manulife Financial Corp., and by John Hancock Advisers, LLC, an affiliate of MFC Global. Units of the fund have received a rating of P-2f from Standard and Poor’s.
The fund’s investment objectives are to provide unitholders with a stable stream of monthly distributions, with an indicative distribution for the first twelve months of 5¢ per unit (60¢ per year to yield 6.0% on the subscription price of $10 per unit); mitigate the impact of significant interest rate increases on the value of the portfolio; and preserve and enhance the net asset value per Unit.
CIBC World Markets Inc. and TD Securities Inc. acted as co-lead agents for the fund along with a syndicate of investment dealers. The fund has granted to the agents an option to purchase an additional 750,000 units of the fund.