Guardian Group of Funds Ltd. (GGOF) today announced the addition of two new funds to its line-up: GGOF Small Cap Growth and Income Fund; and GGOF Global Diversified Fund.
GGOF Small Cap Growth and Income Fund is designed to provide diversification for income-oriented investors, as well as long-term capital growth.
GGOF notes that small cap trusts generally do not have broad research coverage, because of their size and relative illiquidity; As a result, small cap income trusts are less efficiently priced, which can create opportunities for investors who have the access, resources, knowledge and experience to understand and to properly value them.
“As an overlooked asset class, small cap income trusts can provide valuable diversification for an existing income portfolio and minimize single issue risk for investors with individual small cap income trust holdings,” says Gavin Graham, chief investment officer, GGOF.
The fund will make variable income distributions on a quarterly basis, which will typically include dividend income, capital gains, and tax-deferred capital gains in the form of return of capital. Small cap income trusts (those with a market capitalization less than $500 million) will represent at least 50% of the fund, with a target weighting of 60% to 70%.
The fund will be managed by the equity team from Barrantagh Investment Management – Wally Kusters, Bruce Jackson and Peter Comber. This team also co-manages GGOF Resource Fund and GGOF Global Diversified Fund.
Barrantagh, with $500 million under management, is known for its ability to provide above-average returns with below-average levels of risk.
GGOF Global Diversified Fund, is a global balanced fund with three themes: income generation; portfolio growth; and inflation protection.
GGOF says the inclusion of inflation protection distinguishes this new fund from traditional balanced funds.
One-third of the fund will be focused on investments that generate income. This component, which will include Canadian and U.S. high yield bonds, global bonds and Canadian income trusts, is intended to reduce portfolio volatility.
One-third of the fund will be focused on growth through capital appreciation. Central to this strategy is an emphasis on high-quality Canadian and global companies that have demonstrated a long-term history of growing their dividend payments.
One-third of the fund will be focused on offering protection against inflation. This component will include global resource equities and Asian-Pacific equities. To reduce portfolio volatility, the portfolio advisors will include income-based resource products in the resource component and convertible bonds and dividend-paying equities in the Asian-Pacific component.
GGOF Global Diversified Fund will be overseen by GGOF’s experienced Asset Allocation Committee, which oversees the asset mix for all of GGOF’s multi- asset class funds. The committee will receive input from Larry Jeddeloh, the founder of The Institutional Strategist. Gavin Graham will oversee the fund’s five portfolio advisors, who collectively manage over $140 billion in assets. They are: Guardian Capital LP (managing high yield bonds, income trusts); Lazard Asset Management (global bonds, global equities); Barrantagh Investment Management (resource equities); Jones Heward Investment Counsel (Canadian equities); and Matthews International Capital Management (Asian equities).
GGOF provides investors with a full product line of 31 mutual funds, diversified by asset class, geographic region and investment style. GGOF, with $5.8 billion of mutual fund assets under management at February 28, 2006, offers its funds exclusively through financial intermediaries.