Fidelity Investments Canada today expanded its line-up of balanced funds with the launch of Fidelity NorthStar Balanced and Fidelity Tactical High Income. The company also added eight currency-neutral funds, of which two are based on the new funds and six on previously established funds.
The more growth-oriented of the two new funds is Fidelity NorthStar Balanced, a "go anywhere" global mandate. The fund has a neutral asset mix of 50% equities and 50% fixed income. The equity portion is expected to typically fall within a range from 40% to 60% of the portfolio, but the asset-allocation manager will have the flexibility to vary the asset mix by up to 20 percentage points from the neutral mix.
To obtain its equity exposure, the fund will start off investing in units of Fidelity NorthStar, which is managed by Fidelity's Dan Dupont and Joel Tillinghast. Asset-allocation manager Chris Sharpe is responsible for the overall management of the balanced fund, and Jeff Moore and Ford O'Neil will manage the fixed-income portion. Along with investment-grade bonds issued in developed markets, the fixed-income holdings may also include high-yield securities, emerging-markets debt and floating-rate issues.
Fidelity Tactical High Income, the other new fund, will invest globally in a wide range of income-producing securities. These include dividend-paying equities, preferred shares, convertibles, investment-grade bonds, asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, high-yield securities, emerging-markets debt and floating-rate issues.
The fund's manager is Fidelity's Adam Kramer, assisted by James (Jim) Morrow and O'Neil. The managers have the flexibility to invest where they believe the best opportunities exist, and there are no constraints on the basis of asset class, sector, individual security or benchmark weightings.
The management fees for Series A, which has deferred-load purchase options, is 1.95% for Fidelity NorthStar Balanced and 1.90% for Fidelity Tactical High Income. For the front-end-load Series B, the management fees are 1.80% and 1.70%, respectively. The management fees do not cover fund expenses, for which administration fees are charged. There is also a Series F for fee-based accounts.
Distributions of income will be made quarterly for Fidelity NorthStar Balanced and monthly for Fidelity Tactical High Income. For investors who want greater cash flow, portions of which will consist of return of capital, Fidelity has created T-SWP 5% and 8% purchase options for each of these funds. As well, investors can choose between Canadian-dollar and U.S.-dollar denominated currency options.
The new offerings for those who do not want foreign-currency exposure include Fidelity NorthStar Balanced Currency Neutral and Fidelity Tactical High Income Currency Neutral.
The six new currency-neutral funds that are based on older funds are Fidelity U.S. Focused Stock Currency Neutral Class, Fidelity U.S. All Cap Currency Neutral Class, Fidelity American Equity Currency Neutral Class, Fidelity Small Cap America Currency Neutral Class, Fidelity Floating Rate High Income Currency Neutral and Fidelity U.S. Monthly Income Currency Neutral.