Toronto-based Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. is significantly expanding its relationship with MD Physician Services Inc., with Bissett Investment Management signing on to manage more than $1.2 billion in a Canadian equity mandate for MD.

Bissett, a division of Franklin Templeton, also manages two dividend equity mandates for MD, representing $1.18 billion in assets under management as of July 31st.

Garey Aitken, chief investment officer and portfolio manager at Bissett Investment Management, will co-manage the Canadian equity mandate with Tim Caulfield, director of equity research and portfolio manager at Bissett.

“Building on the success of the Canadian dividend platform that Bissett has managed for MD, it is rewarding to be recognized once again by their thorough and rigorous selection process,” said Aitken. “At Bissett, we consistently use a disciplined bottom-up approach to finding high quality stocks with reasonable valuations, while being vigilant about risk management.”

“We look forward to our expanded relationship with Franklin Templeton in pursuit of meeting our clients’ investment goals,” said William Horton, chief investment officer, MD Physician Services Inc. MD, owned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), is the manager and trustee of the MD family of funds, a group of 25 proprietary mutual funds and pools. The company also provides investment counselling services to CMA members and their families.

“Based on the consistent application of Bissett’s investment philosophy of buying high quality businesses for the long term, we expect their Canadian equity mandate to protect capital in poor market environments without losing the ability to participate in strong rallies,” Horton added. “These are examples of the essential building blocks we continually seek in constructing our multi-manager platform.”

Including the new mandate, Franklin Templeton Institutional is having its best year for new business since 2005, the company said. As of June 30th, it had $13 billion in assets under management.

“Franklin Templeton Institutional has robust asset management capabilities across many different asset classes, investment styles and markets globally,” said Duane Green, head of institutional for Canada at Franklin Templeton. “Our team works with each client to understand their investment needs in order to provide solutions resulting in long-term collaborations and mutually beneficial relationships, such as the one we’ve had with MD over the past 42 years.”