The Securities Commission granted an alternative mutual fund exemption from certain provisions of National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds (NI 81-102) and related regulations. This exemption allows the fund to include performance data from periods before it was a reporting issuer in its sales communications, fund facts, and ETF facts documents. The fund can also use this past performance data to calculate its investment risk level and disclose it in the same documents.
Additionally, the fund received relief from National Instrument 81-101 Mutual Fund Prospectus Disclosure and National Instrument 41-101 General Prospectus Requirements to disclose its investment risk level methodology and include past performance data in its simplified prospectus and ETF facts documents.
Furthermore, the fund is exempt from certain sections of National Instrument 81-106 Investment Fund Continuous Disclosure to include financial highlights and past performance in its annual and interim management reports of fund performance that relate to periods before it was a reporting issuer.
The exemptions are subject to conditions, including clear disclosure that the fund was not a reporting issuer during the periods for which past performance data is presented, that expenses might have been higher had it been a reporting issuer, and that an exemption was obtained to permit the disclosure of such data. The fund must also make its financial statements since inception available on its website and upon request.
The decision was made under the securities legislation of Ontario, with the Ontario Securities Commission acting as the principal regulator, and it is intended to be relied upon in other Canadian jurisdictions under Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System.