AIC Limited Announces Ariel Capital Management, LLC as Sub Adviser for AIC American Focused Fund and AIC American Focused Corporate Class
AIC Limited today announced that Chicago-based Ariel Capital Management, LLC ("Ariel") has been appointed as sub-adviser for the AIC American Focused Fund and AIC American Focused Corporate Class.
These Funds were launched in 1999 and, since 2005, were managed by James Cole, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager AIC Investment Services Inc. who will continue to act as Portfolio Manager for the AIC Canadian Focused Fund, AIC Canadian Focused Corporate Class, AIC Dividend Income Fund, AIC Canadian Balanced Fund and AIC Canadian Balanced Corporate Class.
"AIC is excited to announce this change in fund management for a number of reasons," said Jonathan Wellum, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. "Our relationship with Ariel dates back to February 2006 when Ariel agreed to sub-advise the AIC PPC US Small to Mid-Cap Pool. Since that time, AIC has received tremendous advisor feedback on all of our sub-advisory partnerships that include Ariel, Third Avenue Management LLC, and Loomis Sayles & Company, L.P. Ariel is particularly highly regarded in the focused US equity fund space and AIC American Focused Fund is a perfect fit for their expertise. The change in fund management also provides AIC's in-house investment team and fund manager James Cole an increased opportunity to oversee certain Canadian, income and balanced mandates. James has an exceptional investment track record that spans several decades and, in fact, the AIC Canadian Balanced Fund he manages was the first fund in its category in Canada to receive the Lipper Award earlier this year."
"As portfolio manager on AIC American Focused Fund since March 2005, I fully support the decision and am re-energized by the change in fund management," said James Cole, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager. "I've met the Ariel team and have great respect for John Rogers, Charles Bobrinskoy and others on the Ariel team who will now oversee the AIC American Focused Fund."
Ariel Capital Management, LLC
Ariel is a Chicago-based value investing firm founded by John W. Rogers, Jr. in 1983, and is renowned for their focused approach to investing.
"AIC and Ariel share a common approach disciplined investing methodology and that's why we are particularly pleased to be strengthening our relationship further ," said founder John Rogers. "Slow and steady wins the race is our motto at Ariel and we have served our clients well through our investment approach for a quarter century."
By concentrating on long-term investing, Ariel believes that its patient approach allows it to take advantage of buying opportunities that frequently arise from excessive focus on the short-term. Ariel seeks to invest in quality companies in industries where Ariel has expertise. Ariel will only buy when they've determined that these businesses are selling at excellent values.
This focused approach is consistent with AIC's long standing practice of creating focused portfolios of excellent businesses, and holding them for the long term.
The team at Ariel will be led by Charles Bobrinskoy and Tim Fidler. Mr. Bobrinskoy manages Ariel's Investment and Trading teams and also serves as the firm's Director of Research. Additionally, he is a Co-Portfolio Manager, along with Tim Fidler, of Ariel Focus Fund, a concentrated portfolio investing in mid-to-large cap companies.
AIC American Focused Fund and AIC American Focused Corporate Class
AIC American Focused Fund and AIC American Focused Corporate Class invest primarily in a select number of U.S. equities in order to achieve capital preservation and appreciation on behalf of their securityholders. The Funds have combined assets under management of $697.6 million . The management fee of the Funds will remain unchanged.
AIC commenced operations in 1985 and has grown to become one of Canada's largest privately held mutual fund companies with assets under management exceeding $8 billion.
