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. It is established as a segregated fund under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).
Effective January 2022, David Shindler joined the portfolio management team (“the team”) of the Sun Life MFS Global Value fund (“the Fund”). SLGI Asset Management Inc. (“SLGI”) is the manager and MFS Investment Management Canada Ltd. (“MFS”) is the sub-advisor of the Fund.
Shindler joined MFS in 2006 as an equity research analyst. He currently serves as co-CIO of Equity, Europe and is a portfolio manager (“PM”). Shindler had already been working on the Sun Life MFS International Value strategy. In addition, he has expertise in U.S. financials and UK equities. As International Value is a subset of the Fund, MFS believe his contributions would create synergies for the team. They also believe the added responsibilities shouldn’t be too cumbersome for Shindler.
There will be no changes to the Fund’s investment style and process.
SLGI’s view
SLGI, as the manager of the Fund, has taken note of the recent elevated turnover in the team. SLGI views Steven Gorham’s ongoing presence as a PM on the strategy since 2010 as a positive. They also view Shindler’s addition to the team as beneficial since he’s well-entrenched in MFS’ investment style and processes.
Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions’ view
The Fund continues to be on our Watch List in the Additional Monitoring category since Q3 2020. This is due to both recent and the pending changes to the team. The amount of change in recent years is a source of some concern to us. However, we do take comfort in Gorham’s tenure on the Fund. We also believe Shindler will be a solid addition to the team. We’ll continue to monitor the Fund in upcoming quarters and will provide updates as necessary.
Questions?
Please contact your Sun Life Group Retirement Services representative.
