First Asset Investment Management Inc. of Toronto has launched a family of exchange-traded funds, XTF Capital ETFs, which includes Can-60 Income ETF, Can-Financials Income ETF, Can-Energy Income ETF and Can-Materials ETF. The units have been approved for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of June 1. The objective is to provide unitholders with quarterly cash distributions and the opportunity for capital appreciation by investing on an equal-weight basis in the securities that make up the underlying index. The Can-60 XTF is based on an equal weighting of the securities in the S&P/TSX 60 index; Can-Financials XTF is based on the S&P/TSX financial index; Can-Energy XTF is based on an equal weighting of the top 25 largest issuers by market capitalization in the S&P/TSX energy index; and Can-Materials XTF is based on an equal weighting of the top 25 issuers in the S&P/TSX materials index. Every month, the funds’ manager, First Asset Investment, will employ a covered call option-writing program on approximately 25% of the securities of each holding within each XTF fund. Options may be written on each individual issuer held in the portfolio or on a “basket” basis, at the discretion of the manager. Each XTF fund offers both common-class units and advisor-class units. Each class of units charges a management fee of 65 basis points of fund assets under management. The advisor series also pays a 75-bps trailer fee, bringing the total fee on the advisor series to 1.4%.

New funds from Sun Life Global

Toronto-based Sun Life Global Investments (Canada) Inc. has added three funds to its product lineup. Sun Life McLean Budden Canadian Bond Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of primarily Canadian debt instruments. Sun Life BlackRock Canadian Equity Fund and Sun Life BlackRock Canadian Balanced Fund invest in global sector iShares exchange-traded funds. For Series A unitholders of all three funds, advisor commissions for front-end sales are 0%-5% for deferred sales, or 2% for the low-load option. Redemption fees begin at 5.5% in Year 1 and end at zero after Year 7 for the regular DSC schedule, or begin at 3% in Year 1 and end at zero after Year 3 of the low-load schedule. For Sun Life McLean Budden Canadian Bond Fund, trailing commissions for front-end sales are 0.5%; for deferred sales, 0.25% for the first seven years and 0.5% thereafter; and for low-load sales, 0.25% for the first three years and 0.5% thereafter. Management fees are 1.25% for Series A unitholders and 0.75% for Series F unitholders. For the Sun Life BlackRock funds, trailing commissions are 1% for front-end sales, 0.5% for deferred sales and 0.5% for low-load sales. Management fees are 1.55% for Series A unitholders, and 0.55% for Series F unitholders. Minimum investment for each fund is $500.

Portfolio changes at CI funds

Toronto-based CI Investments Inc. has made management changes to a series of global equity, balanced and income mutual funds. Effective June 6, Cambridge Advisors becomes portfolio manager for four U.S. equity mandates: CI American Equity Fund, CI American Equity Corporate Class Fund, CI Value Trust Corporate Class Fund and a portion of the portfolio of CI American Managers Corporate Class Fund. CI American Equity Fund will be renamed Cambridge American Equity Fund, and CI American Managers Corporate Class will become Cambridge American Equity Corporate Class. Also effective on June 6, Signature Global Advisors becomes portfolio manager for 22 CI global equity and income mandates. As part of these changes, Signature will no longer manage a portion of the portfolio of CI American Managers Corporate Class. Please visit www.ci.com for a complete listing of the portfolio-management changes.

Investors Group launches bond fund

Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. has received regulatory approval for Investors Canadian Corporate Bond Fund, which seeks to provide current income by investing primarily in investment-grade, fixed-income securities issued by Canadian corporations. The fund may also invest up to 10% of its assets in other securities, such as high-yield debt instruments and mortgages. I.G. Investment Management Ltd. is portfolio advisor for the fund. Advisor commissions for deferred sales are 0%-4.1%, or 0.35% for the low-load option. Redemption fees begin at 5.5% in Year 2 and end at zero after Year 7 for the regular DSC schedule. Trailing commissions are 0.38% for both deferred and low-load sales. Management fees are 1.6%. There is no minimum investment — unless an investor opens a registered retirement income fund or similar registered plan, for which there is a $5,000 minimum.

Compiled by Olivia Li (oli@investmentexecutive.com).