Darren McKall

The applicant sought exemptive relief from the inter-fund trading prohibition in section 4.2(1) of National Instrument 81-102 to permit mutual funds to engage in inter-fund trades of debt securities with pooled funds and closed-end funds.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the exemption, subject to the condition that the independent review committees of the respective funds approve the transactions in accordance with National Instrument 81-107.

The applicant sought approval for a change of control of a mutual fund manager pursuant to subsection 5.5(2) of National Instrument 81-102 Mutual Funds.

The principal regulator found that the proposed change of control would not affect the day-to-day operation and administration of the funds, and that the new directors and officers would have the requisite integrity and experience.

The exemptive relief was granted.

The applicant, Mackenzie Financial Corporation, applied for exemptive relief on behalf of two mutual funds from certain requirements of National Instrument 81-106 Investment Fund Continuous Disclosure.

The funds sought to present disclosure in their interim and annual management reports of fund performance in a manner applicable to money market funds, despite investing in equity securities and using forward contracts to achieve tax-efficient returns similar to money market funds.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested exemption, permitting the funds to provide disclosure applicable to money market funds and exempting them from including annual compound returns.

The applicant applied on behalf of several mutual funds for exemptive relief from certain provisions of National Instrument 81-102 relating to securities lending transactions.

The funds sought to lend up to 100% of their Canadian equity securities, which were pledged to a counterparty under a forward contract.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested relief, subject to conditions ensuring appropriate collateral and security interests were maintained.

The applicants sought exemptive relief from the concentration restriction in section 2.1(1) of National Instrument 81-102, which prohibits a mutual fund from investing more than 10% of its net assets in the securities of any one issuer.

The relief was sought to allow two global bond funds and a global balanced fund to invest up to 20% or 35% of their net assets in debt securities issued by foreign governments or supranational agencies, depending on the credit rating of the securities.

The principal regulator granted the exemption, subject to conditions including credit rating requirements, market liquidity, and prospectus disclosure.

The applicant, CIBC Asset Management Inc., applied for an extension of the lapse date for the simplified prospectus of the Renaissance Investments family of funds.

The extension of 15 days was requested to allow the final prospectus to reflect the integration of two different unitholder record-keeping systems into a single platform.

The Ontario Securities Commission, acting as principal regulator, granted the exemption, finding that the short extension would not affect the accuracy of the prospectus information and would avoid the undue cost of filing an immediate amendment.

The applicant, Star Hedge Managers Corp., applied for exemptive relief from the requirement under s. 14.2(3)(b) of National Instrument 81-106 to calculate its net asset value (NAV) at least once every business day.

The applicant is an investment fund that invests in private hedge funds, which report their NAVs on a weekly or monthly basis.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the exemption, permitting the applicant to calculate its NAV on a monthly basis, provided that the NAV calculation is available to the public on a website, the shares remain listed on the TSX, and the applicant calculates its NAV at least bi-weekly if the underlying hedge fund reports its NAV more frequently than once monthly.

The applicant, manager of a non-reporting mutual fund, applied for an exemption from the requirement under National Instrument 81-106 to disclose the names of issuers of securities sold short in its statements of investment portfolio.

The applicant argued that disclosing short positions could expose the fund to predatory trading practices, such as short squeezes, causing harm to the fund.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the exemption, finding it would not be prejudicial to the public interest, provided the fund discloses short positions by industry, average cost, market value, and percentage of net assets, and names any issuer where the short position exceeds 5% of net assets.

The applicant, CI Investments Inc., applied for exemptive relief from certain concentration, control, and fund-of-funds restrictions in National Instrument 81-102.

The relief was sought to permit certain mutual funds to continue to purchase and hold securities of related underlying funds after those underlying funds cease to offer their securities under a simplified prospectus.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested relief, provided the underlying funds remain reporting issuers subject to the Mutual Fund Instruments.

CIBC Asset Management Inc. applied for exemptive relief under National Instrument 81-102 to suspend the redemption rights of certain unitholders of the Renaissance Funds and Axiom Portfolios for one day.

The suspension was requested to facilitate the integration of two unitholder record-keeping platforms into a single platform and to prevent pending transactions during the conversion.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested relief, permitting the one-day suspension of redemption rights.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted exemptive relief to Betapro Management Inc., approving a change of control of the manager of the investment funds under National Instrument 81-102.

The change of control resulted from a current shareholder acquiring an additional interest in the manager.

The Commission noted there would be no changes to the management, affairs, or investment managers of the funds.

The applicant sought exemptive relief from paragraph 2.5(2)(e) of National Instrument 81-102 to permit its mutual funds to pay brokerage fees associated with trades in securities of affiliated exchange-traded funds (Underlying ETFs).

The principal regulator granted the relief, noting that paying arm's length third-party brokers for secondary market trades does not offend the policy rationale against duplicating sales and redemption fees, provided the investments otherwise comply with section 2.5.

NexGen Financial Limited Partnership applied on behalf of several mutual funds for exemptive relief from sections 2.6(a), 2.6(c), and 6.1(1) of National Instrument 81-102.

The relief sought to permit the funds to engage in short selling of securities up to 20% of their net assets and to deposit a portion of their assets with an entity other than their custodian as security for short sales.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested relief, subject to several conditions including maintaining cash cover of at least 150% of the aggregate market value of all securities sold short and implementing appropriate internal controls.

The applicant, BMO Investments Inc., applied for exemptive relief under National Instrument 81-102 to merge the BMO U.S. Equity Class into the BMO Global Dividend Class.

Approval was required because the merger did not meet pre-approval criteria due to differences in fundamental investment objectives and portfolio assets, and was not a qualifying exchange.

The Ontario Securities Commission granted the requested relief, noting that the independent review committee and shareholders had approved the merger, and that shareholders were provided with adequate disclosure regarding the differences and tax implications.