IA Clarington extends Aston Hill contract

IA Clarington has shored up its relationship with sub-advisory firm Aston Hill Financial, and its star fund manager, Ben Cheng, who leads the management team for three IA Clarington funds.

The contract with Aston Hill has been extended for five years, with a new employment contract for Cheng, who leads the asset management team at Aston Hill’s portfolio management subsidiary, Catapult Financial Management Inc.

With financing provided by IA Clarington, Cheng will acquire an additional $2 million in Aston Hill common shares from Overlord Acquisition Inc., a holding company controlled by the family of Aston Hill CEO Eric Tremblay. This gives Cheng a 14.3% stake in Aston Hill.

“We are extremely pleased with how our partnership with Aston Hill has evolved in the year and a half since Ben Cheng became lead manager to two of our funds,” said David Scandiffio, president of IA Clarington. “The agreements we signed today are to ensure our firms are more formally aligned to continue to build an ongoing relationship that we believe is well suited to serve our fund investors’ interests over the long term.”

As part of the deal, Scandiffio will join the Aston Hill board of directors.

(02/09/10)

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.