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MD Financial Management Announces Funds That May Engage in Short Selling

Published Date

MD Financial Management Inc. (MD), a Canadian Medical Association (CMA)-owned wealth management organization, today announced that effective November 1, 2015, each of the Funds listed at the end of this notice may engage in short selling of its portfolio securities as permitted by applicable securities regulation.

Short selling by a Fund involves borrowing securities from a lender and selling them on the open market. At a future date, the securities are repurchased by the Fund and returned to the lender. While the securities are borrowed, the proceeds from the sale are deposited with the lender and the Fund pays interest to the lender. If the value of the securities declines between the time that the Fund borrows the securities and the time it repurchases and returns the securities to the lender, the Fund makes a profit on the difference (less any interest the Fund is required to pay the lender).

After November 1, 2015, if a Fund engages in short selling, it will sell securities short and provide a security interest over fund assets with dealers as security in connection with such transactions, subject to certain conditions, which are intended to safeguard the assets of the Fund. These conditions include:

  1. The securities will be sold short only for cash.
  2. The securities sold short will not be:
    1. a security that the Fund is otherwise not permitted by securities legislation to purchase at the time of the transaction,
    2. “illiquid assets” as such term is defined in National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds (“NI 81-102”), or
    3. a security of an investment fund (other than an index participation unit).
  3. At the time the Fund sells the security short:
    1. the Fund has pre-arranged to borrow the securities from a lender for the purpose of such short sale,
    2. the aggregate market value of all securities of the issuer of the securities sold short by the Fund does not exceed 5% of the total net assets of the Fund, and
    3. the aggregate market value of all securities sold short by the Fund does not exceed 20% of the total net assets of the Fund.
  4. The Fund will hold cash cover (as defined in NI 81-102) in an amount, including the Fund assets deposited with dealers as security in connection with the short sale, that is at least 150% of the aggregate market value of all securities sold short by the Fund on a daily marked-to-market basis.
  5. No proceeds from any short sale by the Fund will be used by the Fund to purchase long positions in securities other than cash cover.

    6. The Funds may engage in short selling as a complement to the investment strategies described in their respective simplified prospectuses.

    More Information

    For more information, please send an email to MDFunds.SimplifiedProspectus@md.ca, call 1 800 267-2332 or write to 1870 Alta Vista Dr., Ottawa ON K1G 6R7.

    Funds affected by the above notice:

    MD Balanced Fund MD Precision Conservative PortfolioTM
    MD Bond Fund MD Precision Balanced Income PortfolioTM
    MD Short-Term Bond Fund MD Precision Moderate Balanced PortfolioTM
    MD Dividend Income Fund MD Precision Moderate Growth PortfolioTM
    MD Equity Fund MD Precision Balanced Growth PortfolioTM
    MD Growth Investments Limited MD Precision Maximum Growth PortfolioTM
    MD Dividend Growth Fund MDPIM Canadian Bond Pool
    MD International Growth Fund MDPIM Canadian Long Term Bond Pool
    MD International Value Fund MDPIM Dividend Pool
    MD Money Fund MDPIM Canadian Equity Pool
    MD Select Fund MDPIM US Equity Pool
    MD American Growth Fund MDPIM International Equity Pool
    MD American Value Fund  

    Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed. Their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. To obtain a copy of the prospectus, please call your MD Advisor, or the MD Trade Centre at 1 800 267-2332. The MD Family of Funds is managed by MD Financial Management Inc., a CMA company.

    About MD Financial Management

    MD Financial Management, with more than $40 billion in assets under administration, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association. MD is dedicated to serving physicians and their families. MD Financial Management provides financial products and services, the MD Family of Funds and investment counselling services through the MD Group of Companies. For a detailed list of these companies, visit md.cma.ca.

    Media Contacts

    Maria Grant
    Lead, External Communications, MD Financial Management
    maria.grant@md.ca
    613 809-0657

    Deborah Thompson
    DT Communications
    deborah@dt-communications.com
    416 918-9551