McLean Budden, the Canadian investment firm based in Toronto that is majority-owned by Sun Life Financial, has launched Ucits versions of five of its top-performing equity funds.
The company described the Dublin launch, on 31 December, as an effort to expand its “international reach” and said it would enable the funds to be sold in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Noting that in recent years McLean Budden has developed a non-Canadian client base, located in a dozen countries – with more than C$2.5bn (€1.69bn) under management –company president and chief executive Roger Beauchemin said the new Dublin Ucits umbrella “makes us available to an array of global clients who until now have not had access to us”.
Family of five
The McLean Budden Ucits structure is comprised of a “family” of the five funds, each of which in turn is made up of four classes, including dollar and euro versions of institutional and retail classes.
The five funds mirror the following McLean Budden’s funds, none of which were available previously outside of Canada: McLean Budden American Equity Fund, McLean Budden Canadian Equity Fund, McLean Budden Global Equity Fund, McLean Budden Global Equity Growth Fund and McLean Budden Global Equity Value Fund.
McLean Budden has no plans at present to launch any additional Ucits-compliant versions of its funds, a spokeswoman in Canada said.
RBC Dexia Investor Services is acting as the fund’s custodian, administrator and transfer agent.
McLean Budden’s five-fund launch is the latest of a raft of Ucits-compliant fund introductions in recent weeks. First introduced in 1985, UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) funds have become popular among global investors.
C$35bn under management
Founded in 1947, McLean Budden has more than C$35bn (€23.7bn) under management, on behalf of institutional and private clients across North America, Europe and Asia.
It employs 110 people, including 46 portfolio managers and research analysts. Approximately 40% of the firm is owned by its investment professionals, who retain day-to-day control of operations.
More information on McLean Budden may be found at www.mcleanbudden.com.
