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(May 30, 2006) The GrowthWorks Canadian Fund recently invested $9.5 million in three Canadian companies.

Advanced Glazings of Sydney, Nova Scotia, received $2.5 million, SaskAlta Base Oils got $2 million, and $5 million went to Viron Therapeutics of London, Ontario.

“We’re impressed with the strength of the management teams and the technology behind these diverse companies,” said Les Lyall, senior vice-president, GrowthWorks. “We’re looking forward to working with each of these companies to help them compete and succeed in their respective markets.”

GrowthWorks, based in Vancouver, has about $800 million in assets and also runs several other labour funds, such as Working Opportunity Fund, GrowthWorks Commercialization Fund and GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund.

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CI overhauls fund lineup

(May 30, 2006) CI Investments has announced a number of changes to its fund family, including name changes, four fund mergers and a proposal to expand the investment objectives of the Signature Dividend Fund.

More than a dozen funds will be given new names, such as the Synergy Extreme Canadian Equity Fund, which will become the Synergy Focus Canadian Equity Fund, the Synergy Extreme Global Equity Fund, renamed as Synergy Focus Global Equity Fund and CI Global Boomernomics Corporate Class, which will now be called the CI Global Balanced Corporate Class.

As a result of the changes, a number of segregated funds will have new names or new underlying funds.

CI is also proposing four fund mergers: CI Explorer Fund into CI American Small Companies Fund, CI Explorer Corporate Class into CI American Small Companies Corporate Class. In addition, I Explorer Fund Insight Units will be folded into CI American Small Companies Fund Class F units.

Both CI Explorer and CI American Small Companies funds are managed by Epoch Investment Partners and invest in primarily in North American small-caps.

“As the Canadian small-cap market has limited size and liquidity, CI believes that investors in CI Explorer Fund will benefit from the merger into a fund with a broader set of investment opportunities, while retaining exposure to the small-cap asset class,” CI said.

Other mergers include CI Canadian Growth Portfolio into CI Global Balanced Portfolio, and CI Canadian Maximum Growth Portfolio into CI Global Maximum Growth Portfolio. In both cases, the investment objectives of the portfolio funds are similar.

Finally, the investment objectives of the Signature Dividend Fund will be updated to allow it to invest primarily in dividend-paying common and preferred shares of Canadian companies, as well to invest in other common shares, fixed-income securities and income trusts, and foreign securities. Currently, the fund invests a significant portion of its portfolio in preferred shares. However, the liquidity of the preferred share market and supply of new issues have decreased in recent years, diminishing the number of attractive investment opportunities in this sector, CI explained.

Special unitholder meetings for the mergers are scheduled for around the end of July, though the name changes are scheduled to take effect June 30.

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World Cup fever hits markets

(May 30, 2006) Brazil is closing its stock exchange early on the two days when the country’s soccer team plays first-round matches on weekdays.

The Bovespa will close two hours early on June 13 and June 22, when Brazil plays Japan and Croatia, respectively. Brazil’s other first-round match is being played on a weekend.

The early closings come with the blessing of Brazil’s central bank, which announced last month that the country’s financial institutions must be open for at least four hours on days when Brazil plays its World Cup matches.

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Saskatchewan set to approve passport model

(May 30, 2006) Saskatchewan’s securities regulator is introducing a new Securities Amendment Act effective June 1, which would give the province new powers to implement the passport system of securities regulation.

Under the new provisions, Saskatchewan will have the power to delegate and accept delegations from other jurisdictions, adopt or incorporate the laws of another jurisdiction, grant exemptions based on the fact that an issuer is complying with the laws of another jurisdiction and adopt decisions from other jurisdictions.

The province is amending its definition of “Saskatchewan securities laws” to include extra-provincial securities laws that have been adopted or incorporated.

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