Portfolio Manager changes to the Capital Group Global Equity Segregated Fund
Plan sponsors may wish to consider whether this investment news has any implications for the investment options available within their plans. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada purchases units of the fund listed below, which is established as a segregated fund in accordance with the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).
This is an update only and you don’t need to take any action as a result of this news.
Capital Group announced the upcoming retirement of Portfolio Manager (PM) Jeremy Burge. Burge will retire from the firm effective September 1, 2025, but will transition off the Capital Group Global Equity Fund on July 1, 2025. Burge’s retirement will come after a 43-year career, with 23 years at Capital Group. Burge has been a PM on the Global Equity Fund (the Fund) for the last six years. He is also the Principal Investment Officer (PIO) for the fund.
Following Burge’s departure, his responsibilities will be transitioned to Carl Kawaja, who is the longest tenured PM on the Fund. Kawaja has been a PM on the Fund since its November 2002 inception and previously held the PIO role until 2015.
In conjunction with Burge’s retirement announcement, David Penner and Georgios Damtsas were publicly announced as PMs on the strategy. Penner and Damtsas have each been managing approximately 6-7% of the strategy (Penner for one year, Damtsas for three years) but this had not been publicly disclosed up until now. This is commonly the way that Capital Group introduces new PM’s to a strategy.
Penner and Damtsas are both seasoned Capital Group investment professionals. Penner has a tenure of 13 years at Capital Group and 18 years of total industry experience, while Damstas has 21 years of experience, all at Capital Group. Following Burge’s retirement, there will be six named PMs on this strategy: Georgios Damtsas, Leo Hee, Dawid Justus, Carl Kawaja, Emme Kozloff and David Penner.
Capital Group’s approach to managing portfolios features a number of PMs each managing a small portion of the larger Fund. The PMs collectively manage 75-80% of the strategy and an analyst research portfolio comprises the rest. The PIO is responsible for cash management of the fund and for determining how components of the Fund are distributed among the various PMs and the research group.
GRS Investment Solutions team view
We have no immediate concerns with this change. Capital Group's multi-manager model helps reduce key-person risk, as each PM only manages a fraction of the Fund. The last change to the Global Equity PM team was in 2022, when Emme Kozloff became a named PM. We’ll continue to closely monitor turnover for this strategy as two PMs, Kawaja and Justus, approach retirement.
Questions?
Please contact your Sun Life Group Retirement Services Representative*.
*In Quebec, registered as a Group annuity plans advisor.