Beutel Goodman Income Fund team update

Plan sponsors may wish to consider whether this investment news has any implications for the investment options available within their plans. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada purchases units of the fund listed below. They are established as a segregated fund under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).

This is an update only and you don’t need to take any action as a result of this news.

Beutel Goodman recently announced that Christopher Mudie, Vice President, Fixed Income, was promoted to co-Portfolio Manager (PM) on the Beutel Goodman Income Segregated (BG Income) Fund. Mudie joined Beutel Goodman in 2019 and has over ten years of investment experience.

Mudie joins the two existing PMs on BG Income, namely, Derek Brown and Sue McNamara. Mudie will retain his credit research responsibilities but will also be responsible for decisions and portfolio positioning for BG Income, along with Brown and McNamara. Brown joined BG in 2016 and has over 20 years of investment experience, while McNamara joined BG in 2006 and has over 30 years of investment experience. Historically, the portfolio management team of the BG Income Fund has consisted between a two to three person team. Beutel Goodman indicated this decision was to provide long term succession in the event of future retirements or departures.    

Beutel Goodman uses a team approach to manage their investment portfolios. The firm indicated that the investment philosophy and process won’t change due to this recent addition to the BG Income PM team.

GRS Investment Solutions team view

We are comfortable with the addition of Mudie to the PM team for the BG Income Fund. Mudie has been taking on more responsibility on the Fixed Income team over time, including expanding his credit research and client-facing responsibilities. Adding a third PM to an already strong and tenured PM team will help reduce key person risk if future retirements or departures do occur.   

We will continue to evaluate these changes and provide further updates if necessary.