Purpose launches fund based on top picks of famous managers

Rudy Luukko 30 April, 2014 | 12:05AM
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Purpose Investments Inc. -- whose funds are available as exchange-traded funds or as mutual funds -- has launched two new investment mandates. Purpose Best Ideas (PBI/TSX) and Purpose Duration Hedged Real Estate (PHR/TSX) began trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Like all other funds in the Purpose family, the newest offerings are managed by Breton Hill Capital Ltd., a Toronto firm that holds a minority equity stake in Purpose.

Also making its trading debut was Purpose Tactical Hedged Equity (PHE.B/TSX), a non-currency-hedged version of one of the five original Purpose funds launched in September 2013 by the firm headed by founder, majority owner and CEO Som Seif.

The investment strategy of Purpose Best Ideas is to essentially pick the brains of selected "world-class" money managers by copying some of their top picks. The fund will invest in North American equities selected from among the holdings of a group of 20 accomplished value and activist investors.

The picks will be identified from the public filings of these managers. According to a Purpose news release, the managers whose picks the fund has chosen to mimic will include Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz and George Soros.

The Purpose fund's portfolio will have a target of 25 holdings and will be equally weighted. These holdings will be reconstituted and rebalanced on a quarterly basis, though Breton Hill has the flexibility to do so at different times. The fund will generally hedge a substantial portion of its foreign-currency exposure back to the Canadian dollar.

The other new fund, Purpose Duration Hedged Real Estate, will invest in North American real-estate equity securities, using a multi-factor, fundamental rules-based strategy. The portfolio holdings are to be reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly, subject to Breton Hill's discretion.

To mitigate the risk of investing in this interest-sensitive sector, portfolio manager Breton Hill will tactically hedge the portfolio's interest-rate exposure through the use of derivatives instruments. A substantial portion of the fund's foreign-currency exposure will generally be hedged back to the Canadian dollar.

For both Purpose Best Ideas and Purpose Duration Hedged Real Estate, the management fee is 0.65% for the ETF shares and for the Series F shares for fee-based mutual-fund accounts.

The fee for Series A mutual-fund shares is 1.65%, a full 100 basis points higher, with the additional amount being paid to brokers and fund dealers in annual trailer commissions.

Purpose has also joined the ranks of several mutual-fund sponsors that offer reduced-fee Series D for discount-brokerage clients. For the two new Purpose funds, the management fee for Series D is 0.90%, with discount brokers receiving an annual trailer commission totalling 0.25%.

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About Author

Rudy Luukko

Rudy Luukko  Rudy Luukko is a freelance writer who contributes to Morningstar.ca on topics involving fund industry trends and regulatory issues. He retired in May 2018 from his position as editor, investment and personal finance, at Morningstar Canada, where he had worked since 2004. He has also worked as an editor and writer for various general, specialty and institutional media, and he has co-authored courses for the Canadian Securities Institute. Follow Rudy on Twitter: @RudyLuukko.

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