On The Shelf:

(January 23, 2008) Counsel Wealth Management has announced the addition of global real estate securities as a separate asset class in its Counsel Regular Pay Portfolio. This element of the portfolio will be managed by Citi Property Investors.

“Citi’s global presence and strong on-the-ground knowledge of local markets give them the ability to thoroughly research and understand local real estate market risks and developments, making it a strong partner for Counsel investors,” says Sam Febbraro, Counsel’s president and CEO.

Global real estate is targeted to account for up to 10% of the portfolio. The firm touts the asset as having a relatively low correlation to other asset classes, such as fixed income and equities.

Counsel also announced the addition of an international equity component to the same portfolio, splitting the assets between the growth-oriented Mawer World Investment Fund and the value-oriented Brandes International Equity Fund.

Counsel has also increased the foreign content limit for the Counsel Conservative Portfolio, allowing it to invest directly through underlying mutual funds in foreign securities.

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New ETFs focus on gold, mining

(January 23, 2008) BetaPro Management has rolled out another set of four leveraged ETF offerings, this time providing investors with exposure to the price of gold bullion and mining stocks.

The new offerings are branded under the firm’s Horizons BetaPro Bear and Bull names, allowing either direct or inverse exposure to the underlying assets — the COMEX Gold index and the S&P/TSX Global Mining index.

“Gold and the mining companies that extract it and other important metals have always been a significant segment of Canadian financial markets,” says Howard J. Atkinson, president of BetaPro.

BetaPro also announced that within the next month, it would be launching Bull and Bear ETFs offering leveraged exposure to the Dow Jones–AIG Agricultural Grains index.

(01/23/08)

Staff

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