Toronto-based Mackenzie Financial Corp., manager of the Mackenzie Cundill-branded mutual funds, announced on Friday that Peter Cundill, founder of the Cundill investment organization, will become chairman emeritus of Mackenzie Cundill.

“In 2006, when Mackenzie acquired the Cundill organization, Peter had a leadership transition process in place and we have continued to work with the group on the plan,” said Charles R. Sims, president and CEO of Mackenzie. “Taking the chairman emeritus role is the next step, allowing the talented investment team to continue to draw on Peter’s skill and experience as needed.”

Cundill has attracted and trained a talented investment team of like-minded individuals. He appointed Jim Thompson as Cundill investment team lead in February and they have been working together to ensure continuity of management.

“One of my goals from the start has been to build a strong team. I am confident that we have done just that. This team understands the deep value approach and how to pick stocks that will benefit long-term investors,” said Cundill.

Cundill founded the group in 1974 and spent his career refining the global deep value investment approach deployed by the organization.

“Canadian investors and the investment industry have been beneficiaries from the work of Peter and the Cundill investment team,” said David Feather, president of Mackenzie Financial Services Inc. “Mackenzie Cundill Value Fund has achieved a top ranked track record over the past 34 years, exceeding the returns of all relevant benchmarks by a considerable margin.”

Since the inception date of Dec. 31, 1974, the Cundill Value Fund (Series A) has returned 13.2%, net of fees, compared with 10.8% for the MSCI world index (in Canadian dollars) as of Feb. 28.

Another way of looking at it, a $10,000 investment in the Cundill Value Fund (Series A) at inception with distributions re-invested, would have grown to $680,945, net of fees, compared wth the MSCI world index of $328,480, before any costs, for the same period.

Andrew Massie and Cundill have run Cundill Value Fund for the past five years. Massie will continue on the fund with Thompson.