CI's Eric Bushell named Morningstar Fund Manager of the Decade

TSX Symbol: CIX

TORONTO, Dec. 2 /CNW/ - CI Investments Inc. ("CI") congratulates Eric Bushell, Chief Investment Officer of Signature Global Advisors, for being named Morningstar Fund Manager of the Decade at last night's Canadian Investment Awards gala.

The award, designated by Morningstar Canada, a leading investment fund research firm, honours the fund manager who has produced excellent long-term returns and demonstrated strong stewardship over the period. This is the first time that Morningstar Canada has presented the Fund Manager of the Decade award.

In explaining their selection, David O'Leary, director of fund analysis for Morningstar Canada, said, "When you look over 10 years, he has been a very consistent performer and has done a great job managing risk. He has also been responsible for the architecture of a strong, credible team that manages more than $24 billion in total assets across the Signature line of funds. In any given year, you might overlook him, but when you look over the long term, he has outperformed the overwhelming majority of his competitors."

"We are pleased to see this prestigious industry recognition of Eric's accomplishments," said Derek J. Green, CI President. "He has achieved exceptional results both as a portfolio manager and as a leader of the Signature Global Advisors portfolio management team."

Signature is a division of CI Investments with 25 investment professionals managing approximately $25 billion in various income, equity and balanced funds.

"Over the past 10 years, Eric has put into practice his ideas on how an investment management team should be structured to deliver the best risk-adjusted returns," Mr. Green said. "He has built a talented and committed team of portfolio managers and analysts who are achieving consistent, strong results."

"The key ingredients in our approach have been the development of cross asset class capability and a significant investment in expanding this expertise across global markets," said Mr. Bushell. "We have shown that a Canadian-based asset manager can be competitive and successful on a global scale."

Mr. Bushell was also named Morningstar Equity Fund Manager of the Year in 2009 and was selected Fund Manager of the Year by Investment Executive in 2008. He began his career as an equity analyst and trader at BPI Mutual Funds before becoming a portfolio manager at the firm. He joined CI's Signature team in 1999 when BPI became part of CI Investments. He was named Chief Investment Officer of Signature in 2002.

In addition, Signature High Income Fund, a diversified income fund managed by Mr. Bushell and the Signature team, was named Best Global Balanced Fund at last night's gala.

Over the past 10 years, the Signature team's expertise has been recognized by 13 Canadian Investment Awards. Signature's flagship fund is Signature Select Canadian Fund, of which Mr. Bushell has been Lead Portfolio Manager since its inception in May 1998. The fund is one of the top-ranked funds in its category since inception, with an average annual compound return of 10.3%.*

In other awards, CI Global Science & Technology Fund was named Best Science and Technology Equity Fund for the second consecutive year.

CI was also a finalist for the Analysts' Choice Fund Company of the Year Award. The following funds were silver winners in their categories: Signature Dividend Fund, CI Global Health Sciences Fund, and Signature Canadian Resource Fund. CI American Value was a bronze winner in both the U.S. Equity Fund and U.S. Equity Pooled Fund categories.

CI Investments Inc. is one of Canada's largest investment management companies. It offers a broad range of investment products and services, including an industry-leading selection of investment funds, 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 approximately $91.3 billion in fee-earning assets as of November 30, 2010.

* As of October 31, 2010, Signature Select Canadian Fund (Class A) had compound annual returns of 1 year: 10.2%, 3 years: -1.8%, 5 years: 5.7%, 10 years: 8.3%, and since inception: 10.3% (May 1998). Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses 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 including changes in unit value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any unitholder that would have reduced returns.  Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

For further information:

Murray Oxby
Director, Communications
CI Investments
[phone]