Mike Willans
Head of Equities
LF Canlife Global Equity Fund
About the Fund
The LF Canlife Global Equity Fund aims to provide capital growth mainly from investment in equities quoted on global stock markets.
Essential features of the Fund
LF Canlife Global Equity Fund:
- The Fund invests mainly in the equity of global listed companies and can invest in all sectors of the market
- It also invests in structured products and may invest in collective investment schemes
- Exposure is predominately in large capitalisation companies but tactically invests in small and midcap when opportunities arise
- Key influences are top down macroeconomic factors which determine portfolio construction
- Style agnostic with a contrarian bias
- Cash typically 0 to 2.5% (can go to 10%)
For further details on the objective and investment policy, visit the Literature section to view fund KIIDs and Prospectus.
How the Fund is managed:
The Fund uses a blend of top-down macro views and bottom-up stock selection to identify investment ideas in which we have the highest conviction, it is flexible, pragmatic and mindful of prevailing macroeconomic and market conditions, for example; employment, inflation and gross domestic product
- Fundamental analysis – specific holdings are determined through research that is undertaken by the Canada Life Asset Management’s equities team, including company visits and conferences. The choice spans a variety of industries, services and geographical locations, allowing the manager to gain targeted exposure
- Sector selection - sector allocations are important in order to ensure balance and diversification. Typically, macro and market views are considered in order to balance the portfolio across factors such as growth, cyclicality and defensiveness. Additionally, the desired exposure to trends such as in bond yields and commodity prices are key considerations. This approach to portfolio construction allows us to deliver a diversified source of return from both a capital and income perspective
- Stock selection - typically across companies of all sizes, from large well-knowns to smaller scale operations. The stock selection process itself takes into account several factors. These include the company’s market position, quality of its brand and underlying assets, how it fits in with current market and economic trends, and the specific drivers behind earnings and dividend growth. The managers will also conduct a thorough analysis of a company’s valuation, being sure to understand its earnings forecasts and any changes to a company’s strategy or management team.
Bimal Patel
Fund Manager
Reasons to recommend
Top down macroeconomic style
The Fund is heavily influenced by the economic backdrop and its impact on stocks, sectors and markets. We all live in the real economy and it impacts everything we do. Similarly, our economic view is used to determine risk stance, sector positioning and the type of stocks held. Generally companies with low debt, strong cash flow and a high return on equity are favoured although this varies with the economic cycle.
Strong contrarian bias
The Fund constantly seeks misunderstood investments that have underperformed the market or sector. This often provides us with good entry points to invest in companies we already like which are purchased after the thesis has been re-validated.
Style agnostic
The fund will invest across all sectors, stocks and styles dependent on investment opportunity, macroeconomic backdrop and valuation. It will not be unduly biased to any one thematic or style but instead respond to investment opportunities as they present. The co-managers typically have skillsets in different sectors and styles which, in combination, we believe will provide the best, balanced outcomes.
Experienced management
Mike Willans has more than 25 years’ of investment experience. He joined Canada Life Asset Management in October 1999 and was appointed Head of International Equities in March 2010 and then Head of Equities in May 2018. Mike heads up an experienced team that can also draw on the insights of other equity and fixed income specialists at Canada Life Asset Management. Bimal Patel joined Canada Life Asset Management’s equities team in September 2013.
The value of investments may fall as well as rise and investors may not get back the amount invested.
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