Mawer Investment Management – Global Equity Fund Portfolio Management Team Changes
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, which is established as a segregated fund under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. (Mawer) announced some changes that affect the Portfolio Management team of the Global Equity Fund (the Fund).
Paul Moroz, currently Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and a co-Portfolio Manager (PM) on the Global Equity fund will relinquish both of these roles in 2024.
Moroz will step away from the Fund on March 31, 2024. He had been lead PM since the inception of the strategy in 2009 and has been co-PM since 2021. Manar Hassan-Agha became a new co-PM of the Fund in October 2023, and he will assume all of Moroz’s PM duties as of March 31, 2024. Hassan-Agha joined Mawer in 2021 and the Global Equity team as an analyst in January of 2022. He has five years of investment research experience in total. Christian Deckart will remain the lead PM of the Fund.
Moroz will step down as CIO effective July 1, 2024. Deckart, currently Deputy CIO, will then become CIO. Mawer does not intend to retain the Deputy CIO role going forward.
Mawer has been developing a private equity fund and Moroz will be supporting this new part of Mawer’s investment offerings.
GRS Investment Solutions View:
Paul Moroz has spent 19 years at Mawer and is a leader of the investment team. His leadership and experience will be missed. We take comfort in Christian Deckart remaining on the Fund as lead PM. Deckart has 24 years of investment experience and has been a PM on Global Equity since 2016. However, we have some concern that Deckart’s new CIO role will be a competing priority for him and reduce his focus on Global Equity. This concern is partially mitigated by Deckart relinquishing the lead PM role on Global Small Cap prior to becoming CIO.
Moroz’s replacement with a significantly less experienced co-PM in Hassan-Agha is also of some concern. Hassan-Agha has some experience working with Deckart, however, and a six-month transition period should ensure the transition is smooth. Deckart will be the clear leader and decision-maker on the strategy and the Fund will have more key person risk. However, Mawer’s strong track record of retention of key investment personnel limits this risk.
We’ve placed the fund on our Watch List under ‘Additional Monitoring’ (the least severe category). We’ll continue to monitor Hassan-Agha’s integration, as well as the stability of the existing team and will provide further updates as needed.
Do you have to take any action?
You and your members don’t have to take any action as a result of these changes.
Questions?
Please contact your Sun Life Group Retirement Services representative.