Lipper hands out the hardware

The 2012 Lipper Awards were held last night in Toronto, honouring Canadian mutual funds for risk-adjusted performance over four different time periods. The result: Something like 125 awards, including four for best fund groups.

Phillips, Hager & North took home two of the Group Awards: Best Bond Fund Group and Best Fund Group Overall.

Sentry Investments was named Best Equity Fund Group, while ATB Investment Management was honoured as Best Mixed Assets Fund Group.

“Winning the ‘Best Equity Funds Group Award’ two years in a row is a great honour and validation of our disciplined investment philosophy,” said Sandy McIntyre, president and CEO. “Providing better risk-adjusted returns is the goal of each of our portfolio management teams and core to their common investment process.”

Fidelity Investments and Dynamic Funds were the big winners for individual fund awards, with each taking home 11.

“The Lipper Fund Awards program honours funds that have excelled in delivering consistently strong risk-adjusted performance, over different time periods, relative to their peers,” said Rob Strickland, president, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC. “In these volatile financial markets, investors and advisors are turning to established companies who can deliver investment solutions that meet their evolving needs.”

“Wins across a variety of categories show the strength of Dynamic’s portfolio managers and the diversity of products within our fund family,” said David Goodman, president and CEO of Dynamic. “I’m grateful for this recognition which is the result of a focus on delivering excellence to our clients that is shared by every member of our team.”

TD Asset Management also took home nine awards, including an impressive run of 1-, 3- and 5-year awards for sector equity for its TD Science & Technology Fund (Investor Series).

“These awards are a terrific acknowledgement of our investment approach that focuses on risk management and long-term value, and the commitment of our entire team of portfolio managers to deliver the highest quality solutions for clients and advisors,” said Sandy Cimoroni, President, TD Mutual Funds.

On top of the two group awards garnered by PH&N, RBC also took home 9 individual awards.

“It is a tremendous honour to be recognized by the Lipper Awards for delivering excellence in investment management and to receive such acknowledgements for the sixth consecutive year,” said Dan Chornous, chief investment officer of RBC GAM. “These awards reflect our rigorous process and the dedication of our investment teams. I would like to congratulate and thank them for their exceptional effort and continued commitment to our clients.”

Invesco took home seven awards, including the 1- and 3-year awards in the U.S. Small/Mid Cap Equity Fund category, for its Trimark U.S. Small Companies Class, Series A.

“Invesco is extremely pleased to be honoured yet again for providing investors with some of the very best investment solutions available,” said Peter Intraligi, president, Invesco Canada. “By investing with purpose, prudence and diligence, Invesco’s fund managers take an intentional approach to money management that is clearly paying off for investors by providing them with award-winning performance.”

Aside from the number of awards won in a single night, the Lippers provide insight into which funds have the best track record. While an award for best 1-year returns could be the result of luck, winning a string of awards for multiple time horizons suggests skill.

The best record posted by a single fund was Fidelity Canadian Large Cap, which took home the 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year awards for the Canadian Focused Equity category.

The RBC Canadian Equity Income Series A took home the best 3-, 5- and 10-year return awards for the Canadian Dividend & Equity Income category, losing out on the 1-year return award to Dynamic Equity Income A.

Beutel Goodman Corp/Provincial Active Bond D took home both the 1- and 3-year return awards for the Canadian Fixed Income category.