Aston Hill Asset Management Inc. has changed the names and investment objectives of some of its mutual funds, the company has announced.
Aston Hill Global Convertible Bond Fund, Aston Hill Global Convertible Bond Class and Aston Hill Global Convertible Bond Trust have changed their names to Aston Hill Strategic Yield Fund, Aston Hill Strategic Yield Class and Aston Hill Strategic Yield Trust, respectively, the company reported.
In addition, it has proposed changes to the investment objectives of the three funds. Subject to each fund receiving securityholder approval, the investment objectives, strategies and restrictions of the funds will change in order to permit each fund to seek to provide investors with a high yield by investing primarily in, or obtaining exposure primarily to, fixed income securities of corporate issuers located in Canada or the United States.
“We are excited about expanding the mandate of the funds to include high yield debt,” said Ben Cheng, chief investment officer of Aston Hill Asset Management. “The high yield debt asset class has produced returns better than or comparable with equities in Canada and the U.S. over both recent periods and longer history, with less volatility. Aston Hill already manages over a billion dollars in high yield AUM, and we believe Strategic Yield Fund unitholders will benefit from Aston Hill’s knowledge and expertise in the asset class. We will continue to focus on securityholder income and capital appreciation with low risk.”
Aston Hill also announced that the distribution for Aston Hill Strategic Yield Fund will increase to 4.25 cents per month, or 6.1% yield, based on the most current NAV per unit, effective in January 2012.
Special meetings of the securityholders of the funds are set to take place on Feb. 7, 2012 to approve the changes. If approved, the changes will then take effect immediately.