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IA Clarington Investments has introduced a handful new funds and related corporate class offerings, including three focused on income and one on energy.

The IA Clarington Short-Term Bond Fund will be managed by Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc., and will seek a steady flow of monthly income while preserving investment capital and liquidity. The portfolio will consist primarily of debt securities of Canadian issuers maturing in five years or less and in short-term notes.

The new IA Clarington Tactical Bond Fund and IA Clarington Tactical Bond Class are both managed by Ben Cheng of Catapult Financial Management. The mandate of both funds is to seek a steady flow of monthly income by investing in a mix of high quality Canadian fixed income securities as well as investment grade and higher yielding securities of North American corporate issuers.

The IA Clarington Energy Class will be sub-advised by Cheng and Catapult’s Joanne Hruska, employing bottom-up analysis. The mandate for the offering is to seek long-term capital growth through a diversified portfolio of energy, alternative energy or related companies. The portfolio is expected to hold between 40 and 60 securities.

“The IA Clarington Tactical Bond Fund fits well between our IA Clarington Bond Fund and our extremely popular IA Clarington Tactical Income Fund, also managed by Ben Cheng,” says David Scandiffio, president, IA Clarington. “With the rising demand for fixed income investments, the IA Clarington Short-Term Bond Fund is a good addition between money market investments and traditional bond funds. The IA Clarington Energy Class provides a more focused exposure to this definitively Canadian sector than any of our other products.”

The company is also renaming the IA Clarington Canadian Equity Fund as the IA Clarington Canadian Growth Fund, which it says will better reflect its mandate. The IA Clarington Global Income Fund will also be renamed, becoming the IA Clarington Global Tactical Income Fund.

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RBC offers U.S. multi-style fund

RBC Global Asset Management has announced the launch of PH&N U.S. Multi-Style All-Cap Equity Fund, which will provide individual investors access to the U.S. equity expertise of RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc.

“This fund draws on the strength of our investment management capabilities in Canada and the U.S., bringing together the time-tested expertise of our U.S. equity teams in one core investment,” said John Montalbano, CEO of RBC Global Asset Management. “Initially designed as an institutional solution, the fund will also benefit individual investors seeking U.S. exposure through a diversified, multi-strategy U.S. equity fund.”

The fund is designed to combine five distinct strategies:

• small-cap core • mid-cap value • mid-cap growth • large-cap value • large-cap growth

Ray Mawhinney, senior vice-president, U.S. and Global Equities at RBC Asset Management, will manage the large-cap growth and mid-cap growth strategies.

Stephen Kylander, vice-president and senior portfolio manager at RBC GAM (U.S.), will manage the mid-cap value strategy. Michael Spencer, vice-president and senior portfolio manager at RBC GAM (U.S.), will manage the large-cap value strategy and Lance James, managing director and senior portfolio manager also at RBC GAM (U.S.), will manage the small-cap core strategy.

The fund is available to institutional investors through Series O, and to individuals in Series C and Series F for clients who use an advisor, or Series D for direct investors.

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Matrix contracts Andrew Cook as sub-adviser

Matrix Asset Management has announced that it has hired Andrew Cook to sub-advise several of its funds, effective July 26, 2010.

Cook will sub-advise Mavrix’s Flow-Through Funds, as well as the Mavrix Explorer Fund and Mavrix Multi Series Fund – Explorer Series, which will be renamed Matrix Explorer Fund – Corporate Class.

A 20-year investment industry veteran, Cook has worked in both brokerage and banking, earning experience in both equity research and credit analysis. Prior to launching his own firm, he served as a vice-president of Marquest Asset Management Inc.

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BetaPro puts agribusiness ETFs out to pasture

BetaPro Management announced late Friday that it was closing two of its ETFs, the Horizons BetaPro S&P Agribusiness North America Bull Plus ETF and the Horizons BetaPro S&P Agribusiness North America Bear Plus ETF.

Volumes on both funds had been very thin over the past month at least, with the Bull fund spiking to just over 14,000 units, while the Bear fund routinely failed to break 1,000.

Effective immediately, no further subscriptions will be accepted for the funds. Final redemption requests will be accepted on Monday August 16, 2010 and the funds will be de-listed at the close of business on or about August 17.

The funds will be terminated at the close of business on Friday August 20, 2010, and any investors still holding the funds will be subject to a mandatory redemption.

(07/19/10)