Two global equity funds, two different approaches

Mutual Global Discovery and Mackenzie Ivy Foreign Equity share similar philosophies, but there are differences.

Salman Ahmed, CFA 5 February, 2013 | 7:00PM Adam Fisch
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Adam Fisch: We are back for the first time in a while with a fund faceoff and we wanted to take this opportunity to compare two global equity funds, Mackenzie Ivy Foreign Equity and Mutual Global Discovery. They are similar in a lot of ways in terms of their philosophy and approach to the portfolio, but also have some differences in terms of their portfolio construction.

So Salman, why don't you talk about some of the personnel changes at Mutual Global Discovery?

Salman Ahmed: Yeah. There have been changes on the *Mackenzie Ivy team [Ahmed meant to reference the Mutual team], there has been some personnel turnover on the team. In 2010, the two managers Anne Gudefin and Charles Lahr, both left the firm, and this came after a string of really strong performance, but they've been able to build their bench on that. Timothy Rankin, who was formerly with Mutual, returns to the team as the assistant portfolio manager and now the two most senior and most tenured members of the team – Peter Langerman and Philippe Brugere-Trelat – act as the co-managers on the fund.

Fisch: In the case of Mackenzie Ivy, there has been quite a bit of turnover over the last few years. The most notable was team lead, Jerry Javasky retiring in 2009. In addition to that, canadian manager, Abe Gottesman left the firm in 2010; and most recently, David Arpin, who was co-managing this fund with Paul Musson left last year, and he'd been co-managing since Javasky stepped away.

So, the team now is really led by Paul Musson, who has been there since 2000 and has quite a bit of experience on this mandate in particular, and Matt Moody who – he and Javasky hired in 2005, also has a quite a bit of experience on this fund. In addition, they have an associate portfolio manager, Robert McKee who is experienced as well.

Ahmed: Yeah. One common theme that we've seen in both these teams is their ability to build some of their bench, and it's something that we've highlighted in our report even with the new members coming in on the team. There has been almost uniformity in this – and then the kind of style and consistency and the investment names we continue to see in the portfolio.

Fisch: Yeah. I think just in speaking to the newer members of the team, you can see that they've really adopted the philosophies that have been borne out in these portfolios for a long time. So, we expect that they will be run in a similar way going forward.

Ahmed: Yeah. When it comes to the process, again the philosophy is very similar, in an emphasis on protecting on the downside and a focus on quality names, but the portfolio construction has some differences.

Fisch: In the case of Mackenzie Ivy, there are much more about more concentrated bets typically 20 to 30 names in the portfolio. They find names that they like, strong cash flows, good return on invested capital, good valuations, and they make those bets with conviction. On the flipside, you have Mutual Global Discovery where they have a hundred names in the portfolio or more, and it's a little bit more diversified.

Now, they both have advantages. In the case of Mackenzie Ivy, you can look at that portfolio and say, well, they have strong conviction in these names, but the advantage of the Mutual Global Discovery way is that if one name goes wrong, they really don't suffer too badly.

Ahmed: Yeah. Like you said the philosophies are very similar, but the application of the philosophy is little different. And we've rated both of these funds highly and really – because of the application, the consistent application of this philosophy of investing in quality names and providing investors with downside protection and having done so successfully – these are two funds that we continue to rate highly.

Fisch: Yeah. I think they've both done a good job of really doing what they say that they're going to do. In the case of real market turmoil, they find companies that will power through and come out stronger the other side.

Ahmed: Yeah. For more information on these funds, please visit our website at www.morningstar.ca.

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About Author

Salman Ahmed, CFA

Salman Ahmed, CFA  Salman Ahmed, CFA, is an associate director of active manager research with Morningstar Canada.

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