BMO Global Asset Management partnered with EQT, a Swedish global investment firm with €267 billion in assets under management (AUM), to launch the fund. Roughly 30% of EQT’s AUM is invested in infrastructure companies.
The new alternative investment product has a diversified portfolio of funds and deals investing in global infrastructure companies, primarily in Western Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, said Alexander Singh, managing director and head of alternatives partnerships with BMO Global Asset Management in Toronto, in an interview.
Investors pay a 1.5% management fee for the fund, along with carried interest of up to 20% on funds in the portfolio and 12.5% on co-investments. The fund has a $25,000 investment minimum. Management fees are discounted for investors who put $5 million or more in the fund, including $5 million or more spread across an advisor’s book.
“We think there’s a lot of opportunity for investors to invest in core infrastructure,” Singh said. “Think bridges, toll roads, traditional airports. But there are very few opportunities for them to invest in this modern sector of infrastructure.”
“The interesting part about these assets is they become essential to society. So, 15 years ago, you may not have said that fiber was essential. It wasn’t being invested in as an infrastructure asset. But today it is. It’s clearly essential. … And that’s what we really wanted to provide.”
The fund’s launch also arrives against a backdrop of governments in developed countries signalling their interest in investing in more data centres and alternative sources of energy and power. This includes Canada, which committed to such infrastructure investments in its recent federal budget.
Further, it’s meant to improve private-wealth client access to private market opportunities that were historically institutional only, Singh said. At the same time, he noted that Canadians already have exposure to these opportunities through the Canada Pension Plan, which allocates more than 40% to private market investments, so these are not “crazy novel” investments.
“We’re now opening up to a broader world of investing in both the type — so, privates versus publics — and the delivery, which allows them to become scalable. And we think that’s an important trend for investors to follow,” Singh said.
“This is following the institutional playbook and bringing that to a wider audience.”
New CDRs from BMO, CIBC
Both Bank of Montreal and CIBC have expanded their suites of Canadian Depository Receipts (CDRs).
BMO, continuing its weeks-long streak of launches, now offers the following CDRs:
- Apple Inc. (Cboe: ZAAP), which invests in the common shares of the stock
- Intel Corp. (Cboe: ZINT), which invests in the common shares of the stock
- Mastercard Inc. (Cboe: ZMAS), which invests in the class A common shares of the stock
- Pfizer Inc. (Cboe: ZPFE), which invests in the common shares of the stock
- Visa Inc. (Cboe: ZV), which invests in the class A common shares of the stock
The bank now offers a total of 74 CDRs.
Meanwhile, CIBC’s latest CDRs are based on well-known European companies. They include:
- Hermès CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: HRMS)
- L’Oréal CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: LORL)
- LVMH CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: LVMH)
- Novo Nordisk CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: NOVO)
- Sanofi CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: SNY)
- Schneider Electric CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: SCHN)
- TotalEnergies CDR (CAD Hedged) – (TSX: TTES)
With these launches, CIBC now has a total of 116 CDRs.
CDRs allow investors to gain exposure to some of the world’s largest companies, but in Canadian dollars, mitigating the currency risk associated with global investing.
CIBC introduces new retirement portfolios
CIBC Asset Management Inc. has introduced several new target-date retirement portfolios, along with a dedicated retirement income portfolio designed to support members in retirement.
The portfolios, developed in collaboration with Missouri-based American Century Investments, Inc., include:
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2065 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2060 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2055 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2050 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2045 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2040 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2035 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2030 Portfolio
- CIBC Target Retirement Date 2025 Portfolio
- CIBC Retirement Income Portfolio
The portfolios feature a custom glide path that’s designed to focus on growth in the early years and gradually transition toward more defensive investments as plan members approach their retirement. The glide path is also aligned with RRIF requirements, a release said.
As well, the portfolios provide plan members with access to both public and private markets through a mix of active and passive management, the release noted.
Purpose launches single-stock ETF
Purpose Investments Inc. has introduced a new single-stock ETF.
Launched Nov. 18, the Yield Shares (JPYS) Purpose ETF (Cboe: JPYS) provides investors with exposure to common shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. It also employs a covered-call strategy and moderate leverage in an effort to deliver enhanced monthly income. The fund is also hedged to the Canadian dollar, reducing currency risk for investors.
JPYS has a 0.4% management fee.
Desjardins expands its mutual fund lineup
Desjardins Investments Inc. has expanded its mutual fund lineup, bringing three new funds to market.
Launched Nov. 17, the new funds are managed by Desjardins Global Asset Management.
The Desjardins Canadian Equity Plus Fund aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of Canadian companies. The Desjardins Sustainable Canadian Equity Plus Fund has a similar investment objective, but “takes a responsible approach to investing,” a release said.
Lastly, the Desjardins American Equity Fund seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity and equity-related securities of U.S. companies.
Bloomberg rolls out new commodity indices
Bloomberg has added two new commodity indices to its offerings — the Bloomberg Commodity Carbon Tilted, Transition Metals, & Gold Index and the Bloomberg Commodity Global Oil & Gas Liquidity-Weighted Index.
The benchmarks are designed to align with key themes shaping global commodities markets such as the energy transition, electrification and infrastructure investment, and to complement the firm’s flagship Bloomberg Commodity Index, a release said on Nov. 19.
Also, the Bloomberg Commodity Carbon Tilted, Transition Metals, & Gold Index is already being tracked by Fideuram Asset Management’s recently-launched D-X Diversified Commodities and Strategic Metals UCITS ETF.
“Commodities have long played a critical role in portfolio diversification and inflation-hedging, but today’s investors also want exposure aligned with structural shifts like decarbonization and the energy transition,” said Jigna Gibb, head of commodities and crypto index products at Bloomberg, in a release.
“These new indices are designed to track that evolution and the way commodities demand is being reshaped as a result, combining Bloomberg’s deep data, analytics and research to help investors navigate the next phase of global commodities markets.”
Fee cuts
There were also fee reductions announced this past week.
TD Asset Management Inc. has slashed the management fees of several mutual funds — TD Ultra Short Term Bond Fund, TD Short Term Bond Fund, TD Canadian Corporate Bond Fund and TD U.S. Corporate Bond Fund. A full breakdown is available here.
LongPoint Asset Management Inc. has also reduced the management fees for four of its commodity ETFs to 1.15% from 1.25%, and it says it will rebate them to 0.25% until June 30, 2026.
It also changed the funds’ ticker symbols. Their new tickers are:
- SavvyLong Geared Crude Oil ETF (TSX: OILU), changed from CLUP
- SavvyShort Geared Crude Oil ETF (TSX: OILD), changed from CLDN
- SavvyLong Geared Natural Gas ETF (TSX: GASU), changed from NGUP
- SavvyShort Geared Natural Gas ETF (TSX: GASD), changed from NGDN
The changes are part of LongPoint’s push to establish itself as a Canadian leader in leveraged and inverse-leveraged ETFs.
Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. also made its biggest fee cut in history, which applied to a quarter of its investment fund lineup.