Commentaries

Highlights Ten new merger deals were initiated in the Fund and six deals held within the Fund closed. We are currently seeing the highest level of potential “deals in the works” for small and mid-cap North American companies since launching the Fund. The Fund continues to be fully invested given the volume of quality merger […]

Highlights Positive contributors included OPKO Health Inc. 3.75% 2029 convertible bonds and TXNM Energy Inc. 5.75% 2054 convertible bonds. We extended duration slightly this quarter from 4.74 at June 30 to 5.14 at quarter-end. The three-month return of the Class F units of the Bond Universe Fund was 4.3% to the end of September 2024. […]

Highlights September was a positive month for the Fund, with contributions from Hughes Satellite Systems first lien bond as well as precious metal securities. In the long run, our guess is that North America is ultimately headed back to some form of yield curve control, along the lines of what we currently see in Japan […]

Highlights Many positive contributors in the quarter, such as Kraken Technologies Limited, TerraVest Industries Inc., Altius Renewable Royalties Corp, Dye & Durham Ltd. and BlackLine Systems, Inc.. Thinkific was a key detractor in the quarter. We are finding attractive opportunities in companies in the early stages of their growth cycles in areas of the market […]

  Highlights The Fund has increased exposure to SPACs through participation in new issuances adding exposure to existing SPACs.   Equity markets corrected in early August before subsequently recovering. The Fund took advantage of widening spreads by adding to key positions.  The Fund initiated positions in 14 new merger deals with 12 deals held within the […]

Highlights Market returns were driven by a combination of positive carry, narrowing spreads and lower base government bond yields. Short positions in credit were detractors on the portfolio. Contributors to the Fund included a position in Legends Hospitality 5% 2026 bonds, and from several new issues in Canadian and US high-yield markets at particularly attractive […]

Highlights Key performance contributors included convertible bonds in Revance Therapeutics Inc., OPKO Health Inc., and Cineplex Inc. Key detractor was Stem Inc. We added weight to several lines of existing credits including Crowdstrike Holdings Inc, which we consider an extremely strong credit, and to our existing holdings of Canadian real return bonds. The Pender Corporate […]

Highlights July was another positive month for Fund as several of the larger holdings closed allowing us to harvest and redeploy capital. Key deals included: Apartment Income REIT, Vericity Inc, National Western Life Insurance Co, Everbridge Inc and Argonaut Gold Inc. Performance also benefitted from buoyant equity markets, robust deal activity and outperformance of small […]

Highlights We have put capital to work in new issues in the Canadian dollar high-yield market as some higher quality issues have come to market at meaningfully wider spreads than similar issues in the US high yield market In July, our position in the Austin Fairmont CMBS issue was redeemed, realizing a holding period return […]