The Securities Commission granted an exemption to Genus Capital Management Inc. (the Filer) on behalf of Genus High Impact Equity Fund (the Fund) from certain requirements under National Instruments 81-102, 81-101, and 81-106. This exemption allows the Fund to include past performance data in its sales communications, fund facts, and management reports of fund performance (MRFP), despite the data pertaining to a period before the Fund was a reporting issuer. The Fund, which has been compliant with NI 81-102 investment restrictions since inception, will use this data to calculate its investment risk rating.
The exemption is conditional on the disclosure that the Fund was not a reporting issuer during the period the performance data relates to, and that expenses would have been higher had it been a reporting issuer. The decision also requires the Filer to post the Fund’s financial statements since inception on the Fund’s website and provide them to investors upon request.
The outcome is grounded in the consideration that the Fund’s past performance is reflective of its operations as a reporting fund, the differences in performance are mainly due to management fees between different series of units, and that the Fund’s expenses are not materially different from a reporting fund. The exemption is expected to provide investors with meaningful information for investment decisions.
The decision was made under the securities legislation of British Columbia and Ontario, with British Columbia Securities Commission as the principal regulator. The decision also applies to other Canadian provinces and territories under the Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System.