February 15, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Burlington, Ontario - AIC Limited’s Jonathan Wellum, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, today announced that Chris Lowe, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, will assume a leadership role over the full line-up of AIC Global Equity and Global Balanced fund offerings. Three AIC Funds -- AIC Global Diversified Fund, AIC World Equity Fund and AIC Global Balanced Fund -- will now be managed by a team under the direction of Mr. Lowe, effective immediately. The Corporate Class versions of these funds will also be managed by a team of in-house global equity specialists. These funds were previously managed by Anne-Mette De Place Filippini, a former Senior Vice-President and Portfolio Manager, who left AIC effective February 14, 2008.
"We have confidence in the strong team now assembled to oversee these Funds,” said Mr. Wellum. "By combining their experience and insight, the team will determine the best course of action for AIC Global Diversified Fund and AIC World Equity Fund and our investors going forward.”
“At AIC, we have followed a disciplined value investing approach for more than 20 years,” continued Mr. Wellum. “Each of the members of our in-house team applies this methodology to their fund mandates. In recent years, AIC has also launched funds sub-advised by a number of renowned investment firms including Third Avenue Management LLC in New York; Ariel Capital Management LLC in Chicago and Loomis Sayles & Company, LP in Boston – each highly-regarded in the value investing space.”
Mr. Lowe, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, joined AIC in 2002 and brings with him 25 years global financial services experience including a senior position at Barclays PLC and working in four continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America as well as the Caribbean.
The AIC Global Portfolio Team, under Mr. Lowe, overseeing AIC’s global offerings include the following members:
- Greg Placidi, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, joined AIC in 2001 and has 21 years global financial services experience, critically evaluating and dissecting insurance companies and insurance markets around the world through the eyes of a regulator, strategist and company executive in North America, Europe and Asia.
- James Dancy, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, with 20 years experience in the investment industry, working for highly respected financial services firms such as Georgian Capital, National Bank, Midland Walwyn and TD Bank.
- John Spitman, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, with 12 years experience in the investment industry. John has traded for and trained traders for top-rated Canadian equity and options firms.
The team members named above currently manage several funds including: AIC Global Premium Dividend Income Fund and the AIC World Financial Infrastructure Income and Growth Fund as well as closed end funds offered under Copernican Capital Corp. Individually, Mr. Lowe and Mr. Placidi also manage AIC Global Advantage Fund and AIC American Advantage Fund.
Other team members will include:
- Randy LeClair, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, joined AIC in 1998, and has over 18 years of experience in fixed income investing. Randy also co-manages the Lipper-Award winning AIC Canadian Balanced Fund.
- Pat Naccarato, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, joined AIC in 2006 with 20 years industry experience as a portfolio manager and sector analyst including senior positions at Philips Hager & North, TAL Investment Management and Manulife.
- Peter Hofstra, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, joined AIC in 2002, and over the years has combined his B.Sc. in Chemistry and PhD in Engineering Physics with a CFA designation to apply his expertise to technology sector investing.
- Van-Khanh Nguyen, Investment Analyst, joined AIC in 2005, bringing with her experience in institutional equities research, sales and trading at two leading Canadian brokerage firms, TD Securities and Scotia Capital.
- Todd Schultz, Investment Analyst, holds 10 years of financial services experience, including an investment analyst position at Capital Management Associates in Chicago where he analyzed equities, bonds, preferred stock, and REITS within a long-term value based framework.
The team will now oversee:
AIC World Equity Fund and AIC World Equity Corporate Class
AIC World Equity Fund was introduced in 1993 and AIC World Equity Corporate Class was introduced in 2001. Both Funds invest primarily in equity securities of companies operating in world markets, whose head offices are located outside North America, characterized by strong franchises in order to protect capital and achieve maximum long-term capital growth by benefiting from the diversification which world capital markets offer to investors. The Funds have assets under management of approximately $100 million.
AIC Global Diversified Fund and AIC Global Diversified Corporate Class
AIC Global Diversified Fund was introduced in 1999 and AIC Global Diversified Corporate Class was introduced in 2001. Both Funds invest primarily in equity securities of companies operating in world markets characterized by strong franchises in order to protect capital and achieve maximum long-term capital growth by benefiting from diversification which global capital markets offer to investors. The Funds have assets under management of approximately $35 million.
AIC Global Balanced Fund
AIC Global Balanced Fund was introduced in 2001. The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of companies operating in world markets, characterized by strong franchises, and debt instruments in order to provide both high current income and capital appreciation. The Fund has assets under management of approximately $25 million.
AIC commenced operations in 1985 and has grown to become one of Canada’s largest privately held mutual fund companies with assets under management of approximately $7 billion.
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Media Contact:
Terri Oswald
Director, Media Relations
AIC Limited, Burlington ON
(905) 331-4242, ext. 4345
1-888-710-4242, ext. 4345
toswald@aic.com
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