CI Investments Inc. today announced the successful completion of several changes to its fund lineup, including the mergers of six funds into other funds managed by CI.
The changes included the amalgamation of Synergy Canadian Fund Inc. into CI Corporate Class Limited, a tax-efficient mutual fund corporation that allows investors to switch among its 42 fund classes without triggering a disposition for tax purposes. This change was prompted by the elimination of the foreign property rule for registered plans, as Synergy Canadian Fund classes were considered Canadian content for registered plans and CI Corporate Class funds were considered foreign content.
“The merger of Synergy Canadian Class into CI Corporate Class has given investors greater choice within this tax-efficient fund structure,” said Peter Anderson, president and CEO of CI Investments, in a release. “All of these changes contribute to providing a clearer, more efficient lineup of investment options.”
The amalgamation and the mutual fund mergers were approved by securityholders at special meetings held on November 24.
In addition to the mergers, CI has converted three Synergy Canadian Fund classes into CI Corporate Class funds:
- Synergy Canadian Class has become Synergy Canadian Corporate Class;
- Synergy Canadian Style Management Class has become Synergy Canadian Style Management Corporate Class; and
- Signature Canadian Small Cap Class has become Signature Canadian Small Cap Corporate Class.
In connection with the conversion of Synergy Canadian Style Management Class to Synergy Canadian Style Management Corporate Class, Legg Mason Capital Management, Trilogy Advisors, LLC, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. and Altrinsic Global Advisors, LLC will become sub-advisors of Synergy Canadian Style Management Corporate Class.
Synergy Asset Management will continue to be the principal sub-advisor of the fund, for which the portfolio is managed by a number of Canadian and global portfolio managers with different investment styles. Previously, the fund obtained exposure to these global managers indirectly through an investment by the fund in Synergy Global Style Management Corporate Class.
In addition, BPI American Equity Fund has been renamed CI American Equity Fund, and BPI American Equity Corporate Class has been changed to CI American Equity Corporate Class. These changes reflect the combination of BPI Global Asset Management LLP with Trilogy Advisors earlier this year and the management of those fund portfolios by Trilogy.
A number of changes to CI’s segregated fund lineups also took effect today. Information about these changes, which were announced on September 23, 2005, can be found at on CI’s Web site under “What’s New.”