Brompton Funds

Logo for Print
Search Form
Portfolio Manager: MFC Global Investment Management
  • One of the top-rated fund managers of income oriented portfolios in Canada
  • MFC Global Investment Management was founded in 1949 and is wholly-owned by Manulife Financial Corp. which is active in various financial services including, insurance, mutual funds, pension management and banking. With more than $240 billion in assets under administration, as of December 31, 2007, MFC Global is a leading global investment management group.
MFC Global Investment Management

Alan Wicks and his value equity team are the principal portfolio managers of the Fund. They are also portfolio manager of the award winning Manulife Monthly High Income Fund, which placed first in the Canadian Equity Balanced category at the 2008 Lipper Fund Awards, in recognition of the fund's consistently strong, risk-adjusted performance relative to its peers over a 10-year period.

Mr. Wicks' team managed approximately $7.1 billion as at December 31, 2007 across 20 separate investment mandates, which includes $1.2 billion in oil and gas securities.

Mr. Terry Carr, who manages MFC Global's fixed income team, is responsible for investing the fixed income portion of the portfolio. Mr. Carr's fixed income team consists of nine members with average experience of 14 years and manage total assets of approximately $9.1 billion as at December 31, 2007.

Portfolio Management Team

Alan Wicks, BA, CFA (Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Wicks is responsible for MFC Global's Canadian Value Equity Team, managing both value equity and income portfolios. Under his leadership, the team has experienced a tenfold increase in assets under management to over $7 billion. He joined MFC Global in 1996 and has 18 years investment experience. Mr. Wicks earned a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Toronto and is a CFA Charterholder.


Danny Tomka, BSc, CFA (Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Tomka is a member of MFC Global's Canadian Value Equity Team and lead manager for the Manulife Global Dividend Fund and the Manulife Global Monthly Income Fund. He joined MFC Global in 1997 and he has worked in the investment industry since 1991. Previously, he worked as an investment analyst with Economic Investment Trust and CT Investment Management. Mr. Tomka earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Queen's University and he is a CFA Charterholder.


Duncan Anderson, BA, CFA (Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Anderson is a member of MFC Global's Canadian Value Equity Team with a focus on income investments, energy and telecommunications. He joined the mutual fund arm of Manulife Financial in 1999, moving to MFC Global in 2002 and has 8 years of investment experience. Mr. Anderson earned a bachelor of arts in economics from York University, and he is a CFA Charterholder.


Jonathan Popper, MBA, MA (Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Popper is a member of MFC Global's Canadian Value Equity Team and a co-manager of the income funds. He specializes in investments in the industrial, consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors. He joined MFC Global in 1999. Prior to that, he worked with CIBC Investment Services and CIBC Wood Gundy. He earned a bachelor of arts from the University of Western Ontario, a master of arts and a master of business administration from York University.


Terry Carr, BA, CFA (Vice President and Managing Director)
Mr. Carr is a senior member of the MFC Global Investment Committee and heads MFC Global's Fixed Income and Money Market desks in Canada, which manage North American fixed income mandates, including government, corporate, high yield bonds, and money market instruments. He joined MFC Global in 2002 after previously working for Manulife Financial for nearly a decade, as well as holding senior investment positions with one of Canada's chartered banks and in the hedge fund industry. He has 21 years of investment experience managing fixed income portfolios. Mr. Carr holds a bachelor of business administration from York University and is a CFA Charterholder.


Todd Parsons, BA, CFA (Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Parsons is a member of MFC Global's Canadian Total Return team and is responsible for actively managed fixed income assets. Mr. Parsons joined MFC Global in 1999 and has worked in the investment industry since 1996. Previously, he managed U.S. bond assets as a member of MFC Global's U.S. Total Return team. He also has experience managing Canadian and U.S. money market assets. Mr. Parsons holds an honours bachelor of Arts from Brock University and is a CFA Charterholder.


Konstantin Kizunov, BA, MBA, CFA (Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Kizunov is a member of MFC Global's High-Yield team and is responsible for the selection, trading and monitoring of high yield and convertible securities for both MFC Global assets and third party money. Mr. Kizunov joined MFC Global Investment Management in 1996. He has a bachelor of arts from the University of Western Ontario and a master of business administration from Simon Fraser University, and is a CFA Charterholder.


Richard Kos, MBA, BASc, CFA (Assistant Vice President and Portfolio Manager)
Mr. Kos is a member of the MFC Global's High-Yield team and responsible for the selection, trading and monitoring of high yield and convertible securities for both MFC Global assets and third party money. Mr. Kos joined MFC Global in 2004 and has worked in the investment industry since 1996. Previously, he worked as an analyst in high-yield bonds, food, alcohol & tobacco, and portfolio analytics with a major Canadian financial institution. Mr. Kos has a master of business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, and a bachelor of applied science in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Investment Approach

MFC Global will attempt to achieve strong risk-adjusted returns and a high level of monthly income by adhering to the following disciplined investment approach:

  1. active asset and sector allocation based on a relative return and risk analysis;
  2. fundamental "bottom up" analysis of potential investments including meeting with management teams;
  3. discounted cash flow models, price per barrel of oil equivalent reserves analysis and price to debt adjusted cash flows to determine intrinsic value;
  4. emphasis on high quality securities, liquidity, capital preservation and broad diversification; and
  5. detailed in-house credit analysis of fixed income investments as well as third party and independent research.

MFC Global Investment Management Conference Call - Sept. 30, 2008 [ Playback ]

PDF Market Overview and Portfolio Update Oct. 31, 2008