Fund sales slow in April

Mutual fund sales continued to struggle in April, despite strong performance in global equity markets. Just how slow the month was remains a point of speculation however.

According to preliminary estimates from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, net sales of mutual funds for the month fell somewhere in the range of $57 million to $557 million.

That’s a bit of an decrease from the traditionally busy month of March, which saw only $2.58 billion in net new money.

“Performance in just about every equity market this month was healthy,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice-president of member services and communications with IFIC. “Assets under management for the industry grew by over 2.5% from March however sales for April were below what we’ve seen over the past few years.”

Total industry assets under management ranged between $702.6 billion and $707.6 billion, up approximately 2.54% from March.

CI Financial reported total net sales of $170 million for the month, with $148 million in new cash flowing into long term funds. The strong market conditions of April helped the company boost overall assets under management by 3.5%, to $68.1 billion.

“The outlook today is much more positive, with central banks having made significant interest rate reductions in recent months and credit markets stabilizing,” CI president Stephen MacPhail said in a press release. “CI’s sales momentum continues, with our new products making important contributions to these results.”

Mackenzie Financial did not fare as well in April, posting $49 million net redemptions of long term funds, with an additional $75 million in outflows from money market funds. Long-term mutual fund AUM has fallen by 6.2% in the past 12 months, from $46.3 billion in April 2007, to $43.5 billion.

AGF Management reported $117.6 million in net redemptions of long-term mutual funds, with an additional $10 million exiting money market funds. Total mutual fund AUM at the end of April was $28.6 billion, up 2.2% from March thanks to investment performance.

“Although market conditions have improved, investors continue to remain cautious,” said Blake C. Goldring, chairman and chief executive officer, AGF Management Limited. “We anticipate that future reduced market volatility will result in renewed investor confidence and we believe that AGF is well positioned for future success.”

Mavrix Fund Management also reported its April sales data, revealing $28 million in net redemptions, the majority of which resulted from the rollover of the assets of three Mavrix Resource Limited Partnerships into Mavrix Multi Series Ltd. Explorer Series funds.

“The majority of our funds posted positive performance in April to help offset the anticipated impact of post LP rollover redemption activity,” said David Balsdon, CCO and secretary-treasurer.

Filed by Steven Lamb, Advisor.ca, steven.lamb@advisor.rogers.com