Despite an August swoon in markets, half of the Canadian mutual fund industry managed to eke out positive returns for the third quarter, according to Morningstar Canada. Morningstar tracks mutual fund performance in 42 fund categories. The best performer was the Asia Pacific ex-Japan equity index, with a quarterly return of 7.3%, fuelled by hot […]
(September 2007) “It’s not the bus you’re expecting,” a wise friend said to me years ago. “It’s the one you’re not expecting that runs you over.” It was an argument meant to demonstrate risk control: to protect against the unexpected. That, I would argue, is what happened in the dog days of this summer. Why […]
The 26,000 investors who put $792 million into managed accounts with Portus Group will see some money starting early in the fall. So far, Portus’s trustee in bankruptcy has traced roughly $150 million in cash. But Robert Rusko, senior vice-president at KPMG, says the first allocation to Portus clients will be less than the amount […]
Unitholders in one of the investments in the collapsed Portus Group may soon be able to retrieve what’s left of their money as the receiver moves to wind up the investment. Portus Group had three investment vehicles: two managed accounts that were to buy both Canadian and U.S.-dollar denominated principal-protected notes, and the Market-Neutral Preservation […]
(May 2007) Boaz Manor denied he was the owner of Portus Alternative Asset Management, despite sworn documents filed with the Ontario Securities Commission Management, says a special report filed by receiver KPMG. However, KPMG does not believe Manor is credible. “Now I know that a lot of things that I’m saying are fantastic in nature. […]
The market for exchange-traded funds is quickly filling up. Today, Barclays Global Investors added two small-cap and a socially responsible ETF to its lineup. That follows the introduction of a new bond ETF, as well as value and growth ETFs in the fall and a dividend and real-return bond ETF at the end of 2005. […]
Fears about a looming pension crisis have receded somewhat since last year, according to the Conference Board of Canada’s fourth annual survey of pension plan sponsors. Much of that that can be attributed to a year of good investment returns. Nevertheless, long-term affordability issues weigh on plan sponsors, particularly since there’s a $20 billion gap […]
(May 2007) Although using models of expected returns to guide portfolio construction is the starting point for any investor forgoing the certainty of a T-bill return, “the equations cannot always describe the true nature of competition and combat” in the securities marketplace, warns doyen of investment management studies Peter Bernstein. Nevertheless, “theory matters even though […]
(April 2007) New mutual fund registration procedures will have an impact on hedge funds in Canada, says one expert. At the same time, an international industry body is promoting new valuation rules to deal with a rising phenomenon: illiquid investments. The Canadian chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association organized a workshop this week for […]
Questionable payments, overstated assets and faulty price calculations mean that investors in the Olympus United hedge fund of funds will likely see between 6 cents and 9 cents on the dollar for their $144 million investment. And the Olympus fund’s manager, Norshield Asset Management, will likely be the subject of a police investigation, based on […]