TORONTO, Jan. 28, 2019 /CNW/ - CI Investments Inc. ("CI") announced today that it has been honoured with 18 FundGrade® A+ Awards, which are presented annually by Fundata Canada Inc. to investment funds that have shown consistent, outstanding risk-adjusted performance through the year.

"Earning FundGrade A+ recognition represents a mark of distinction for our funds and the portfolio managers responsible for this success," said Neal Kerr, Executive Vice-President, Investment Management at CI. "We congratulate our winning teams on this achievement."

The winning CI mutual funds are:

• Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund
• Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund
• US Equity Growth Pool.

In addition, 15 segregated funds with underlying funds managed by CI, also received FundGrade A+ Awards.

• Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund is a concentrated portfolio of high-quality businesses that can compound intrinsic value in addition to paying a dividend or buying back shares. Since portfolio manager Stephen Groff of Cambridge Global Asset Management took over the mandate in December 2013, Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund has posted the highest return in the Canadian Dividend & Income Equity category.*
  

• Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund is managed by Aubrey Hearn and James Dutkiewicz of the Sentry Investment Management team. They focus on high-quality U.S. securities and companies with strong balance sheets that generate healthy levels of free cash flow with ability to increase dividends. The fund has a strong track record, having outperformed over 98% of its peers from inception to December 31, 2018.**
  

• US Equity Growth Pool is managed by Mammen Chally of Wellington Management Canada, LLC. The team utilizes a growth-oriented approach that emphasizes bottom-up security selection to identify companies that have an ability to generate above-average growth in corporate earnings. The pool has demonstrated strong performance since inception with a track record in the top decile in the U.S. Equity category.

The awards were announced Thursday evening by Fundata Canada at its annual Evening of Excellence gala in Toronto. For more information on the FundGrade A+ Awards, please visit the website.

About CI Investments ­­– Trusted Partner in Wealth™  
CI Investments is one of Canada's largest investment management companies. It offers a wide range of investment products and services, and is on the Web at www.ci.com. CI is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX), an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management firm with $166.1 billion in fee-earning assets as of December 31, 2018.

*Source: Morningstar. Class F returns for the five-year period ending December 31, 2018.
Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund Class F, 1 year, -1.1%; 3 years, 7.9%; 5 years, 10.0%; 10 years, 11.1%; and since inception, 7.7% (June 2006);

**Source: Morningstar, as at December 31, 2018. Class F since inception analysis. Peer group is the global equity balanced category.

Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund Series F, 1 year, 3.8%; 3 years, 5.5%; 5 years, 10.3%; since inception, 11.6% (March 2013)

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns (net of fees and expenses payable by the fund) including changes in security value and reinvestment of all dividends/distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

Performance as of December 31, 2018: Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund Class A, 1 year, -2.2%; 3 years, 6.8%; 5 years, 8.8%; 10 years, 9.9%; Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund Class F, 1 year, -1.1%; 3 years, 7.9%; 5 years, 10.0%; 10 years, 11.1%; Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund Series A, 1 year, 2.7%; 3 years, 4.3%; 5 years, 9.1%; since inception, 10.4% (March 2013); Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund Series F, 1 year, 3.8%; 3 years, 5.5%; 5 years, 10.3%; since inception, 11.6% (March 2013); US Equity Growth Pool Class A, 1 year 1.0%; 3 years, 7.3; 5 years, 10.6%; 10 years, 13.6%; US Equity Growth Pool Class W, 1 year 3.8%; 3 years, 10.2%; 5 years, 13.7%; 10 years, 16.7%.

Cambridge Global Asset Management is a division of CI Investments Inc. Certain funds associated with Cambridge Global Asset Management are sub-advised by CI Global Investments Inc., a firm registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an affiliate of CI Investments Inc. Certain portfolio managers of CI Global Investments Inc. are associated with Cambridge Global Asset Management.

Sentry, Sentry Investment Management™ and the Sentry Investment Management logo are trademarks of CI Investments Inc. Sentry Investment Management is a division of CI Investments Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CI Financial Corp.

®CI Investments, the CI Investments design and Cambridge are registered trademarks of CI Investments Inc. © CI Investments Inc. 2019. All rights reserved.  

FundGrade A+^® is used with permission from Fundata Canada Inc., all rights reserved. The annual FundGrade A+^® Awards are presented by Fundata Canada Inc. to recognize the "best of the best" among Canadian investment funds. The FundGrade A+^® calculation is supplemental to the monthly FundGrade ratings and is calculated at the end of each calendar year. The FundGrade rating system evaluates funds based on their risk-adjusted performance, measured by Sharpe Ratio, Sortino Ratio, and Information Ratio. The score for each ratio is calculated individually, covering all time periods from 2 to 10 years. The scores are then weighted equally in calculating a monthly FundGrade. The top 10% of funds earn an A Grade; the next 20% of funds earn a B Grade; the next 40% of funds earn a C Grade; the next 20% of funds receive a D Grade; and the lowest 10% of funds receive an E Grade. To be eligible, a fund must have received a FundGrade rating every month in the previous year. The FundGrade A+^® uses a GPA-style calculation, where each monthly FundGrade from "A" to "E" receives a score from 4 to 0, respectively. A fund's average score for the year determines its GPA. Any fund with a GPA of 3.5 or greater is awarded a FundGrade A+^® Award. For more information, see www.FundGradeAwards.com. Although Fundata makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained herein, the accuracy is not guaranteed by Fundata.

List of winning mutual funds

SOURCE CI Financial Corp.

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