CI Investments Inc. Wednesday announced the launch of the Lawrence Park Strategic Income Fund, expanding CI’s selection of funds in the global fixed-income category. The fund is available to exempt or accredited investors only.
The portfolio manager is Lawrence Park Capital Partners Ltd., Toronto-based independent investment management firm specializing in fixed-income alternative investment strategies.
The new fund’s mandate is to generate positive returns with low volatility through exposure to global corporate bond markets, and provide protection from rising interest rates. The fund manages a portfolio of primarily investment-grade corporate bonds, while using hedging tools to lower the interest rate duration of the portfolio and help to immunize the fund from interest rate moves.
The fund relies on Lawrence Park’s expertise in security selection across corporate bond markets in Canada, the U.S. and Europe and invests in securities that the team, led by David Fry and Andrew Torres, believes offer significant relative yield and an opportunity for capital appreciation.
Derek Green, CI president, notes the Lawrence Park team “has over 70 years of combined experience in global fixed-income and credit investing and offers a unique approach to fixed-income investing aimed at enhancing yield and reducing volatility.
“We believe that this new fund offers an alternative for investors looking for safety in a rising-rate environment, with the ability to participate in the upside of an improving global economy,” Green says.
Lawrence Park also currently manages a portion of the portfolio of CI’s United Canadian Fixed Income Pool, and is portfolio manager of the Lawrence Park Credit Strategies Fund, which is available to exempt or accredited investors only.
CI is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX), an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management firm with approximately $106 billion in assets.