TORONTO, ON, August 15, 2002 - ClaringtonFunds Inc. today
announced the introduction of two new equity funds, providing
further opportunities for investment style diversification by
bringing the expertise of two renowned money management firms to
investors.
The funds are Clarington Canadian Value Fund,
managed by Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd. of Toronto with $10
billion in assets under administration, and Clarington U.S.
Mid-Cap Value Class, managed by TCW Investment Management
Company of New York with U.S. $90 billion in assets under
administration.
"Clarington's strategy is to seek out the most respected money
managers in the industry, and make their expertise available to
Canadians by appointing them as sub-advisers to our funds," says
Terence Stone, Chairman and Founder of Clarington. "We scoured the
investment industry and examined a lot of track records before
choosing Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd. and TCW Investment
Management Company. Their expertise complements the solid team of
sub-advisers that has been carefully assembled to create the
diverse Clarington family of Canadian and global funds."
Clarington Canadian Value Fund is sub-advised
by Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd. and will invest primarily in
Canadian companies with attractive valuations. "We look for
companies with defensible franchises that are earning their cost of
capital with free cash flow but are trading at a discount," says
portfolio manager Andrew Sweeney. "Our process maintains that risk
is best viewed in terms of margin of safety. The preservation of
capital is a central tenet of our value investment philosophy,
which espouses that risk, is absolute, and avoiding permanent loss
of capital is paramount."
Founded in 1967, Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd. is one of
Canada's longest standing value investment managers. Based in
Toronto, Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd. manages money for many
of Canada's largest institutional clients.
Clarington U.S. Mid-Cap Value Class will be
sub-advised by TCW Investment Management Company and will model the
existing TCW Galileo Value Opportunities Fund,
available only to U.S. investors. The Wall Street Journal
Quarterly Mutual Funds Review called Galileo Value
Opportunities Fund a "Category King" among mid-cap value funds and
ranked it #4 for 1-year ending March 31, 2002. Lipper ranked it #5
among mid-cap value funds for 1-year ending March 28, 2002 and #3
among same funds for 3-years. Money magazine listed it #3 among
mid-cap value funds in its January 2002 issue. Investor Force (a
major U.S. supplier of investment data and services), ranked it #3
for 2001 in U.S. mid-cap value strategies.
Portfolio manager Susan Schottenfeld calls mid caps "…an
interesting area because a lot of these companies are followed by
institutions and owned by them. That is why you get a lot of
volatility if they miss earnings. There is a lot of opportunity
created by this. At the same time, you are buying companies that
are more seasoned compared to small caps. Mid caps really act very
similar to small caps, but there is more stability because they are
more seasoned."
This fund is part of Clarington Sector Fund Inc. that allows
individuals to switch among funds in the group without triggering a
taxable capital gain.
ClaringtonFunds Inc., founded in 1995, has over $2.8 billion in
assets in 36 funds, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and
Montreal.