GWL Investment Management Ltd. (GWLIM)
Since 1981, GWL Investment Management Ltd. has been a wholly owned investment counselling and portfolio management subsidiary of The Great-West Life Assurance Company, responsible for managing client assets. GWLIM’s main responsibilities include overseeing all Great-West Life’s segregated funds and separately managed client portfolios. Their investment management team manages in excess of C$11.8 billion* from their head office in Winnipeg.
Investment philosophy
GWLIM seeks to achieve superior rates of return while minimizing and controlling portfolio risk and volatility. Superior rates of return are generated through effective asset mix decisions and security selection, and volatility is minimized through strategic diversification within the investment portfolios. Their ability to include both mortgages and real estate in investment portfolios further enhances diversification. By using these disciplines effectively, GWLIM aims for superior returns in strong markets and to effectively conserve capital in weak markets.
Investment process
Using a disciplined top-down, growth-oriented approach, GWLIM focuses on broad economic trends. The management team forecasts trends and themes in the economy and capital markets using fundamental and technical analysis. Typically, funds hold 50 to 70 individual stocks in each equity portfolio.
Stocks considered for portfolios must exhibit:
- Strong, sustainable earnings momentum, especially driven by revenue growth
- Excellent products and services
- Superb management and an improving competitive position
- Improving relative strength against the market
- An attractive valuation against industry comparables and historic norms
GWLIM, a disciplined, risk-adverse bond manager, uses both fundamental and technical analysis to anticipate interest rates, analyze yield curve and determine relative spreads between federal, provincial and corporate bonds.
Using this analysis, they forecast future economic performance to identify major trends or cycles in interest rate movements. GWLIM looks for variations in these trends when the debt market is subject to relatively high or low risk and adjusts the duration, yield-curve positioning and weighting between federal, provincial and corporate bonds accordingly. Typically, the managers hold 40 to 60 individual bonds in portfolios.
Management style
|
