CI Investments funds and ETFs recognized for performance by FundGrade® A+ Awards

TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2020 /CNW/ - CI Investments Inc. ("CI") announced today that it has received 38 FundGrade® A+ Awards, which are presented annually by Fundata Canada Inc. to acknowledge Canadian investment funds that have maintained an exceptional performance rating over the entire previous calendar year. 

Winning funds included five CI mutual funds and pools, eight CI First Asset exchange-traded funds, and 25 segregated funds managed by CI. Of those segregated funds, 16 invest in underlying CI mutual funds.

"The FundGrade A+ methodology is an objective recognition of investment excellence and we are gratified that four of our in-house portfolio management teams received awards," said Kurt MacAlpine, Chief Executive Officer of CI Financial Corp., parent company of CI. "It speaks to the quality and the breadth of the investment expertise CI offers our clients.

"It's also notable that our winning mandates span all asset classes including U.S., Canadian, global and international equities and bonds, alternatives, as well as product structures including mutual and segregated funds, pools and ETFs," Mr. MacAlpine said. "CI has built a diverse, client-focused product lineup that allows investors to access our investment expertise in the mandate and structure that best suits their needs and preferences.

"Congratulations to our portfolio managers for achieving industry-leading success."

CI's winning mutual funds and pools are:

Funds	Managed by
Cambridge Bond Fund	Paul Marcogliese, Cambridge Global Asset Management
Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund	Stephen Groff, Cambridge Global Asset Management
First Asset REIT Income Fund	Lee Goldman, Kate MacDonald and Joshua Varghese, Signature Global Asset Management
Sentry Global Investment Grade Private Pool Class	John Shaw, Signature Global Asset Management
Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund	Aubrey Hearn, Sentry Investment Management

The winning ETFs are:

ETFs	Ticker (TSX)	Managed by
CI First Asset Canadian REIT ETF	RIT	Lee Goldman, Kate MacDonald and Joshua Varghese, Signature Global Asset Management
CI First Asset Canadian Buyback Index ETF	FBE	CI First Asset Investment Management
CI First Asset Energy Giants Covered Call ETF	NXF
CI First Asset MSCI Canada Quality Index Class ETF	FQC
CI First Asset MSCI Europe Low Risk Weighted ETF	RWE
CI First Asset MSCI USA Low Risk Weighted ETF	RWU
CI First Asset MSCI World Low Risk Weighted ETF	RWW
CI First Asset Morningstar National Bank Québec Index ETF	QXM

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

CI Investments Inc. – Trusted Partner in Wealth^TM
CI Investments Inc. 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 $182 billion in fee-earning assets as of December 31, 2019.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compound total returns net of fees and expenses payable by the fund (except for figures of one year or less, which are simple total returns) including changes in security value and reinvestment of all 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 and ETFs are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell units of an ETF on the TSX. If the units are purchased or sold on the TSX, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units of the ETF and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them.

Cambridge Global Asset Management, CI First Asset Investment Management, Signature Global Asset Management and Sentry Investment Management are each a division of CI Investments Inc. Certain funds associated with Cambridge Global Asset Management and Signature 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.

CI Investments® and the CI Investments design are registered trademarks of CI Investments Inc. "Trusted Partner in Wealth^TM" is a trademark of CI Investments Inc.

©CI Investments Inc. 2020.  All rights reserved

Performance as of December 31, 2019: Cambridge Bond Fund Class A, 1 year, 8.3%; 3 years; SI, 8.0% (2018-12-12); Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund Class A, 1 year, 15.6%; 3 years, 6.6%; 5 years, 7.8%; 10 years, 9.1%, SI, 8.0% (2005-02-01); First Asset REIT Income Fund Class A, 1 year, 19.90%; 3 years, 10.66%; 5 years, 10.96%; SI, 12.43% (March 2013); Sentry Global Investment Grade Private Pool Series A, 1 year, 9.8%; 3 years, 4.1%; SI, 3.1% (2016-07-04); Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund Series A, 1 year, 15.8%; 3 years, 8.3%; 5 years, 8.8%; SI, 11.1% (2013-03-04); Source: Morningstar, as at December 31, 2019

CI First Asset Canadian REIT ETF, 1 year, 22.97%; 3 years, 12.68%; 5 years, 12.72%; 10 years, 13.36%; SI, 11.19% (Nov. 15, 2004); CI First Asset Canadian Buyback Index ETF, 1 year, 16.64%; 3 years, 7.75%; SI, 9.08% (Sept. 9, 2016); CI First Asset Energy Giants Covered Call ETF (CAD Hedged), 1 year, 6.70%; 4 years, 0.00%; SI, -0.48% (Feb. 4, 2015); CI First Asset MSCI Canada Quality Index Class ETF, 1 year, 23.64%; 3 years, 9.80%; SI, 10.71% (May 3, 2016); CI First Asset MSCI Europe Low Risk Weighted ETF (CAD Hedged), 1 year, 26.39%; 3 years, 10.99%; 5 years, 9.03%; SI, 9.74% (Feb. 5, 2014); CI First Asset MSCI USA Low Risk Weighted ETF (Unhedged), 1 year, 21.39%; 3 years, 12.30%; 5 years, 13.84%; SI, 16.38% (Feb. 5, 2014); CI First Asset MSCI World Low Risk Weighted ETF (Unhedged), year 1, 17.29%; 3 years, 10.15%; 5 years, 11.04%; SI, 12.66% (Feb. 12, 2014); CI First Asset Morningstar National Bank Quebec Index ETF, 1 year, 24.51%; 3 years, 9.47%; 5 years, 8.13%; SI, 12.57% (Feb. 2, 2012);
Source: Morningstar, as at December 31, 2019

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 funds

Fund Name	CIFSC^1 Category	Fund Count^2	FundGrade Start Date^3
Cambridge Bond Fund	Canadian Fixed Income	310	1/31/2016
Cambridge Canadian Dividend Fund	Canadian Dividend & Income Equity	356	1/31/2010
First Asset REIT Income Fund	Real Estate Equity	73	1/31/2011
Sentry Global Investment Grade Private Pool Class	Global Fixed Income	241	1/31/2017
Sentry U.S. Monthly Income Fund	Global Equity Balanced	754	1/31/2014
CI First Asset Canadian REIT ETF (RIT)	Real Estate Equity	73	1/31/2010
CI First Asset Canadian Buyback Index ETF (FBE)	Canadian Equity	429	1/31/2017
CI First Asset Energy Giants Covered Call ETF (NXF)	Energy Equity	39	1/31/2016
CI First Asset MSCI Canada Quality Index Class ETF (FQC)	Canadian Equity	429	1/31/2017
CI First Asset MSCI Europe Low Risk Weighted ETF (RWE)	European Equity	136	1/31/2015
CI First Asset MSCI USA Low Risk Weighted ETF (RWU)	U.S. Equity	883	1/31/2015
CI First Asset MSCI World Low Risk Weighted ETF (RWW)	Global Equity	1100	1/31/2015
CI First Asset Morningstar National Bank Québec Index ETF (QXM)	Canadian Equity	429	1/31/2013

1 Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC)

2 Number of peers in Category

3 As used by Fundata to calculate relevant time period. The end date for the FundGrade calculation is December 31, 2019.

SOURCE CI Investments Inc.

Murray Oxby, Vice-President, Communications, CI Investments, [phone], [email protected]