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 funds listed below. They are established as segregated funds under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).

On September 1, 2021, SLGI Asset Management Inc. (SLGI) announced changes to the structure and personnel within its investment team. These changes follow the departure of Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”), Sadiq Adatia that we communicated in July 2021.

SLGI recently engaged an external consultant to review the talent, resources and structure of the investment team.  Following the review, SLGI announced the following changes (all starting on September 1, 2021):

  • Chhad Aul was promoted to CIO and Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at the firm. Aul had been appointed Chair of the Asset Allocation Committee (“AAC”) (previously called the “Investment Committee”) after Adatia’s departure. Aul will lead the Multi-Asset Solutions team and act as the ultimate decision-maker for multi-asset funds, including the Granite Target Date and Target Risk series of funds. Aul will continue to report to Oricia Smith, President of SLGI.
  • SLGI will expand the investment team to five portfolio managers (including CIO). SLGI promoted AlyKhan Somani and Anthony Wu to Portfolio Manager (previously Associate PMs). SLGI will also hire a Senior Portfolio Manager later this year. All five PM’s will be part of the AAC, which will have responsibility for strategic and tactical asset allocation decisions for multi-asset funds.
  • SLGI will add dedicated manager research resources; importantly, they will add an Assistant Vice President (“AVP”), Responsible Investing & Manager Research later this year. The Investment Oversight Committee (“IOC”), which oversees manager research and makes manager selection decisions, will be chaired by Aul. The IOC will include:
    • Christine Tan, Portfolio Manager
    • New AVP, Responsible Investing & Manager Research
    • Jason Agaby, VP, Product Management
    • Matthew Stern, AVP, Product Development & Investment Risk

The IOC will continue to leverage Sun Life’s International Investment Centre (“IIC”) in its manager research activities.

The organizational chart below shows the new structure of the investment team.

SLGI Asset Management Inc. Multi-Asset Solutions team

Importantly, SLGI also announced the departure of Kathrin Forrest, VP, Portfolio Management. She was with SLGI for five years and 17 years at Sun Life. Forrest’s focus was on manager research and fund selection. She left the firm on September 10, 2021, to take on a new opportunity outside of Sun Life. Forrest is joining Capital Group in Canada as an Equity Investment Specialist.

Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions Team View

The departure of PM Kathrin Forrest is a significant loss for SLGI. Forrest had been a member of the now legacy three-person Investment Committee chaired by Sadiq Adatia, as well as the IOC. She also led SLGI’s manager research efforts. These have been the primary source of value added in the multi-manager funds, including Granite Target Date and Target Risk series. SLGI has now lost two of its three most senior investment professionals to external opportunities, within a short time frame. This significantly increases the key person risk in new CIO Chhad Aul.  It is important for SLGI to hire the appropriate talent for the new roles to ensure success of the strategies and to mitigate the key person risk in Aul.

We have confidence in the new CIO, Aul. He has worked along side Adatia since joining SLGI in 2014 and brings continuity and solid experience to the role. Aul has 17 years of investment experience. However, Aul doesn’t have the same experience in senior roles as Adatia. Adatia possessed a track record of senior investment decision-making through his roles at Russell Investments and SLGI. As CIO, Adatia had also managed SLGI’s Product team. This role has now been carved out by SLGI, and Aul will be able to focus on investments, which we view positively.

SLGI conducted the organizational review. This was to ensure the investment team was structured and resourced properly for current responsibilities and prepared for future growth. SLGI also conducted a compensation review after Adatia’s departure to help retain talent. The structural changes create a clearer delineation between asset allocation, manager research, and product roles. It also reflects the growing emphasis on the importance of ESG integration. The addition of portfolio management resources reflects the increase in assets and products, after a period of significant growth. AlyKhan Somani and Anthony Wu were promoted to PMs to provide support to Aul, alongside current PM Christine Tan.

  • Somani joined SLGI in 2012. He will employ his quantitative skills and derivatives expertise in support of SLGI’s multi-asset funds. Somani will focus on the Granite Target Risk fund series.
  • Wu joined SLGI in 2015. He will conduct global macro research to support asset mix decisions and oversee operational aspects of investment implementation. Wu will focus on the Granite Target Date fund series.
  • Tan, who joined SLGI in 2018, will use her experience in emerging markets to conduct macroeconomic analysis. She will be a member of both the AAC and the IOC. Prior to joining SLGI, Tan was CIO and Senior PM at Excel Investment Counsel Inc. In addition to oversight of all sub-advised funds, she had portfolio management responsibility for the Excel Emerging Markets Fund. Prior to Excel, Tan co-managed a Canadian equity portfolio at Gluskin Sheff. We believe Tan contributes to the investment team’s diversity of thought and brings portfolio management and due diligence experience.

In July 2021, following Sadiq Adatia’s departure, we placed all SLGI multi-manager strategies, including Granite target date and target risk series, on our Watch List under the Additional Monitoring category.  Following Kathrin Forrest’s departure, we have placed the SLGI multi-manager strategies On Watch.

Specifically, the following SLGI multi-manager funds available on our Core investment platform are On Watch:

  • Granite Target Date fund series (including Multi-Risk Target Date)
  • Granite Target Risk fund series
  • Milestone Target Date fund series
  • Granite Income and Enhanced Income
  • Multi-Strategy funds (bond, core plus bond, Canadian equity, global equity, real assets)

We believe the turnover will have little impact to the SLGI funds that use a single sub-advisor. We don’t anticipate any interruption to the monitoring of these funds and believe that SLGI will continue to monitor, select and replace sub-advisors for single-manager funds, as necessary. There are no strategic or tactical decisions for SLGI’s single mandate funds. As a result, we have not placed these strategies on our Watch List.

We will monitor developments at SLGI closely in the coming months, as Aul settles into his CIO role, and will evaluate and communicate the appointments to the two vacant senior positions as they occur.  

Questions?

Please contact your Group Retirement Services Representative.