National Bank Securities has completed its mutual fund mergers and optimization project, which officially began on April 6, the firm said Monday.

As the last step of the Altamira integration process, National Bank Securities resolved to streamline its mutual fund line-up, so as to provide investors with a comprehensive, more clearly defined range of investment products.

To do so, the company merged its most marginal funds and those that share comparable investment objectives.

According to National Bank Securities, the benefits of this project include lower long-term costs for clients, highly competitive management fees, and amended investment objectives for certain funds allowing for higher potential returns for investors.

The firm’s four-level offering now consists of:

• National Bank Funds, a group core funds managed by Natcan Investment Management;
• Altamira Funds, a line-up of specialized funds managed by Natcan Investment Management;
• Omega Funds, a family of funds for which the portfolio management is conducted by external firms; and
• Meritage Portfolios, a family of 14 investment portfolios comprised of 100% third-party funds.

“We are very happy with the outcome of this project, which can only serve to benefit investors”, says Charles Guay, president and CEO of National Bank Securities. “With our updated line-up, we will be better positioned to offer a simpler range of products, across three distinct brands, each with its own characteristics, particularities and benefits, in addition to our all-in-one Meritage Portfolios.”

Altamira Funds repositioned

The company took advantage of this streamlining exercise to reposition the Altamira Fund family, which now comprises a series of specialized funds — indexed, geographical, sector, fixed income — and an all-new logo that better reflects the buoyancy of these products.

Along with these mergers, other slight changes were made. The investment objective of Altamira U.S. Equity Fund (formerly Altamira US Larger Company Fund) was amended so as to broaden its mandate to allow investments in American companies of all capitalizations, and its declaration of trust was modernized.

Furthermore, National Bank Mortgage Fund’s investment strategies were amended to reflect the fact that the fund may invest indirectly in mortgages by acquiring mortgage-backed securities, ensuring more flexibility for the portfolio manager.

Changes at Omega Funds

Modifications were made to Omega Canadian Equity Fund (formerly National Bank/Fidelity True North Fund) and Omega Global Equity Fund (formerly National Bank/Fidelity Global Fund): their declarations of trust were modernized and their investment objectives moved from a “fund of fund” structure to a regular structure, all the while maintaining similar objectives.

National Bank Securities has retained CI Global Holdings Inc., carrying on business as Cambridge Advisors, to act as sub-advisor for Omega Canadian Equity Fund. The Cambridge team is led by Chief Investment Officer Alan Radlo. “Mr. Radlo enjoys a reputation for achieving excellent returns,” says Guay. “We are convinced that his stock-picking ability, the quality of his fundamental analysis and his rigorous risk management approach will benefit unitholders.”

Furthermore, Pyramis Global Advisors, an affiliate of Fidelity Investments Canada, has been named to act as sub-advisor for Omega Global Equity Fund. Investors can only gain from the quality of the fundamental research performed by the team of equity analysts at Pyramis.

IE