Toronto, Ontario, April 8, 2008 - IA Clarington
Investments Inc. ("IA Clarington" or the "Company") today announced
that its Target Click Funds (the "Funds"), Canada's first
guaranteed mutual funds, reached their three-year anniversary in
February - steadily locking in gains and demonstrating the value of
the Funds' investment approach. In addition, Fortis Bank S.A./N.V.
("Fortis") replaced ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ("ABN AMRO") as the
guarantor of the Funds, effective March 31, 2008.
Fortis was part of the consortium that acquired ABN AMRO in the
fourth quarter of 2007, and its assumption of the guarantee
coincides with its acquisition of the asset management business of
ABN AMRO. Fortis is an international provider of banking and
insurance services to personal, business and institutional
customers. Fortis ranks among Europe's top 20 financial
institutions, with total assets of EUR 871 billion as at December
31, 2007. The long-term debt of Fortis was rated A+ by Standard
& Poor's and AA- by Fitch Ratings.
The Target Click Funds are global balanced mutual funds with a
difference - they provide a guaranteed value at maturity, thereby
providing protection for investors' capital. Each Fund has the
benefit of a guarantee of the highest month-end unit value ever
achieved over the life of the Funds, if held to the scheduled
maturity date. The guaranteed value for each of the Funds has
increased repeatedly since inception.
"The Target Click Funds provide exposure to the growth potential
of global equity markets, while locking in month-end gains to
provide downside protection when held to maturity," said Eric
Frape, Senior Vice President, Product and Business Development at
IA Clarington. "Each Fund's asset mix becomes more conservative as
it approaches maturity and its fees also decline as it approaches
maturity. The significant interest we are seeing in these products
strongly reinforces the benefits of this investment strategy,
particularly in periods of market volatility like we've seen
recently" added Frape.
About IA Clarington
IA Clarington Investments Inc., a subsidiary of Industrial
Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., markets a wide
range of investment products, including mutual funds, segregated
funds, principal protected notes and closed end funds managed by
leading portfolio managers. IA Clarington and its subsidiaries
managed approximately $7.7 billion in assets as at December 31,
2007. The company's website address is
www.iaclarington.com.
The IA Clarington Target Click Funds are IA Clarington Target
Click 2010 Fund, IA Clarington Target Click 2015 Fund, IA
Clarington Target Click 2020 Fund and IA Clarington Target Click
2025 Fund.
About the Guarantee
Fortis has provided a guarantee to each Fund that the Fund will
have sufficient assets on its maturity date to pay investors the
highest month-end net asset value per unit achieved during the life
of the Fund. Each Fund's maturity date will occur on June 30 of the
year specified in the Fund's name.
Investors who redeem prior to the Fund's maturity date will not
have the benefit of the guarantee, and will receive the net asset
value per unit as of the redemption date. In addition, in some
circumstances, the maturity date for a Fund may be accelerated, in
which case the guarantee will cover payment only of the net present
value of the guaranteed amount, and normal redemption charges for
DSC or low load assets would apply. In either of these situations,
an investor could receive less than the guaranteed value and less
than the amount of his or her initial investment. The guarantee is
an unsecured obligation of Fortis and any payment under the
guarantee is subject to the risk that the bank will have
insufficient assets to make the payment.
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses
all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the
prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not generally
guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may
not be repeated. However, each IA Clarington Target Click Fund has
the benefit of the guarantee described above.