Real Estate Investment Pool

Transcription

1 This semiannual management report of fund performance contains financial highlights but does not contain the complete semiannual or annual financial statements of the investment fund. You can get a copy of the semiannual or annual financial statements at your request, and at no cost, by calling , by writing to us at United Financial, 2 Queen Street East, Twentieth Floor, Toronto, ON, M5C 3G7 or by visiting our website at or SEDAR at Securityholders may also contact us using one of these methods to request a copy of the investment fund s proxy voting policies and procedures, proxy voting disclosure record, or quarterly portfolio disclosure. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS The Fund s net assets increased by 45.4 million to million from December 31, 2016 to June 30, The Fund had net sales of 23.4 million for the period. The portfolio s performance increased assets by 22.0 million. The Fund s sixmonth return for Class A units was 3.5%, Class E units was 3.9%, Class OF units was 4.0%, Class I units was 5.2% and Class W units was 5.1% compared to the return of the benchmark of 1.8% for the same period. The benchmark is the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Total Return Index. The Fund outperformed its benchmark for the period. AsiaPacific was a strong performer for the sixmonth period through June Shares of certain Hong Kong retail landlords performed well amid a decline in bond yields and an improvement in retail sales data due to higher tourist arrivals. In Japan, JREITs underperformed developers, in part due to weakness in largecap REITs. Although Japan s economy has shown signs of improvement, the overall JREIT market has been soft recently amid fund outflows from domestic investment trusts. The United States saw a wide dispersion of returns by property type, with data center REITs among the top performers. Nearly all companies in the sector reported betterthanexpected increases in leasing volume for the first quarter. The retail sectors continued to struggle amid ongoing news of store closings and concerns regarding the expansion of ecommerce, trends that could weigh on a number of these companies operating fundamentals for an extended period. European real estate markets rallied across the board for most of the period. However, they ended the period on a difficult note, when bond yields rose in reaction to comments from European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi, who stated that the factors recently dampening inflation in the Eurozone may prove temporary, with the region poised for a strengthening and broadening recovery. Other ECB officials quickly released comments with a softer tone. Stock selection in the United States was especially strong. The portfolio benefitted from an overweight in DuPont Fabros Technology Inc., a data center REIT which rallied strongly after Digital Realty Trust Inc. announced that it would acquire the company at a premium to DuPont s stock price at the time of the news. The portfolio also benefitted from a significant underweight in retail landlords in the U.S., who collectively had a sizable decline. Stock selection in the U.K. aided performance as well. We continued to emphasize noncore, less cyclical sectors of the market, which generally performed better than office and retail companies. Our overweights in the industrial company Segro PLC, selfstorage operator Big Yellow Group PLC and health care landlord Assura Group were leading contributors, as all had sizable gains. Our nonallocation to Singapore hindered performance. Notwithstanding its recent outperformance, we maintain a cautious view of Singapore based on weak property fundamentals in general and limited macro catalysts. Our lack of investment in the Netherlands also detracted from relative returns due to an unfavourable currency effect, as the euro appreciated against the Canadian dollar in the quarter. During the period, the Fund initiated a position in Avalonbay Communities Inc., an American apartment company. The company s latest quarterly revenues grew faster (3.2%) than its guidance range (23%), and a guidance raise is likely next quarter. Developments are adding 3% to 4% to funds from operations in 2017 and The Fund also initiated a position in Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. Ltd., a Japanese developer. The company may have the strongest organic growth potential (and ability to beat expectations) among its largest rivals over the next few years, due to its strong pipeline and positive rent reversions. Additionally, the Fund initiated a position in the Goodman Group, an Australian logistics company. Goodman is continuing to benefit from improving development margins and volumes, as well as lower debt costs. The company is also positioned to benefit from a favourable global logistics backdrop and on the possibility of incremental demand growth should Amazon enter the Australian market. Alternatively, the Fund trimmed its overweight in Simon Property Group Inc., an American mall REIT, to an underweight position. This is reflective of the headwinds retail landlords will face due to ecommerce retail growth and continued obsolescence of department stores that could drive a longerterm deterioration in net operating income. Our approach to retail is highly selective and focused on companies with highquality properties in desirable locations that should continue to attract tenants. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS In the United States, we generally favour property sectors that offer an attractive combination of cyclical growth and value, such as offices, data centers, and singlefamily homes and apartments. In Canada, we favour select relatively highgrowth REITs. Higher energy prices along with faster growth in the U.S. should benefit the Canadian economy. However, we remain circumspect of the country s real estate securities due to their full valuations and poor cash flow growth. In the U.K., we favour companies that we believe feature more defensive or CIG 9618

2 structural growth characteristics and are likely to remain relatively insulated from an economic downturn: ecommercefocused logistics warehouses, student housing and health care landlords. We hold a constructive view of continental Europe s property markets. We particularly favour German residential and office properties, and we also hold office landlords in France, as Paris is gradually recovering and they are likely to gather new tenants relocating from London. In the AsiaPacific region, we believe Japanese developers continue to trade at attractive valuations. We also remain positive on selective REITs that we believe offer the ability to deliver strong dividend yields and/or earnings growth. We remain cautious toward Singapore. Despite the nearterm improvement in the outlook for trade, domestic conditions remain soft and the government is reluctant to ease monetary conditions. Effective January 3, 2017, James Werry became a member of the Independent Review Committee of the Fund. Effective March 13, 2017, units initially issued as Class F units were renamed as Class OF units. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Manager, Trustee and Portfolio Advisor CI Investments Inc. is the Manager, Trustee and Portfolio Advisor of the Fund. CI Investments Inc. is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. The Manager, in consideration of management fees, provided management services required in the daytoday operations of the Fund. The Manager bears all of the operating expenses of the Fund (other than taxes, borrowing costs and new governmental fees) in return for a fixed administration fee. Management fee and fixed administration fee rates as at June 30, 2017, for each of the classes are shown below: Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class A Class E Class E Class E Class E Class E Class F Class F Class F Class F Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class F Class I Paid directly by investor Class OF Class W Paid directly by investor 0.22 The Manager received 2.9 million in management fees and 0.4 million in fixed administration fees for the period. Management Fees Approximately 21% of total management fees were used to pay for sales and trailing commissions and other services required. The remaining 79% of management fees were used to pay for investment management and other general administration. Principal Distributor The Manager has the exclusive right to arrange for the distribution of units of the Fund. Pursuant to a series of agreements, the right to distribute such units has been granted, on a collective basis, to the following dealers, each of which is an affiliate of the Manager. Assante Capital Management Ltd. Assante Financial Management Ltd. Independent Review Committee The Fund received standing instructions from the Board of Governors ( BoG ) in its capacity as the Independent Review Committee ( IRC ) with respect to the following Related Party Transactions: a) trades in securities of CI Financial Corp.; b) purchases or sales of securities of an issuer from or to another investment fund managed by the Manager (referred to as InterFund Trades ); c) purchases or sales of other investment funds managed by the Manager or their affiliates; and d) mergers of funds with another fund that is subject to National Instrument 812 ( Fund Mergers ). The applicable standing instructions require that Related Party Transactions be conducted in accordance with the Manager s policies and procedures. The Manager is required to advise the IRC of any material breach of a condition of the standing instructions. The standing instructions require, among other things, that the investment decisions in respect to Related Party Transactions (a) are made by the Manager free from any influence by any entities related to the Manager and without taking into account any consideration to any affiliate of the Manager; (b) represent the business judgment of the Manager uninfluenced by considerations other than the best interests of the Fund;

3 and (c) are made in compliance with the Manager s policies and procedures. Transactions made by the Manager under the standing instructions are subsequently reviewed by the IRC on a quarterly basis to monitor compliance. The Fund relied on the IRC s standing instructions regarding Related Party Transactions during this reporting period.

4 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS The following tables show selected key financial information about the Fund and are intended to help you understand the Fund s financial performance for the past six periods, as applicable. Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class A Commencement of operations December 28, 2006 Six Months Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended 31, , , , , 2012^ (0.18) (0.35) (0.33) (0.28) (0.25) (0.21) (0.01) (1.28) (0.17) (0.22) ,602 8,176 11,543 14,719 16,198 23, ,050 1,568 2,094 3, Class E Commencement of operations September, 2008 Six Months Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended 31, , , , , 2012^ (0.22) (0.42) (0.40) (0.33) (0.29) (0.24) (1.66) (0.44) (0.07) , , , , ,363 88,249 7,573 15,592 13,743 13,714 11,676 8, ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 7.

5 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class E (0.04) 0.16 (0.40) (0.21) ,034 8, Class E (0.04) 0.16 (0.41) (0.22) ,339 4,

6 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class E (0.04) 0.12 (0.49) (0.34) , Class E (0.04) 0.07 (0.76) (0.64) ,

7 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class F 0.08 (0.02) 0.07 (0.60) (0.47) Class F (0.02) 0.06 (0.64) (0.51)

8 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class F (0.02) 0.04 (0.59) (0.49) Class F (0.02) 0.15 (0.30) (0.09)

9 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class F (0.02) 0.15 (0.30) (0.09) Class I Commencement of operations September 18, 2008 Six Months Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended 31, , , , , 2012^ (0.08) (2.07) (0.51) , ,194 94,480 64,337 44,084 33,022 6,694 5,685 4,440 3,660 3,142 2, ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 7. 9

10 Net Assets per Unit () (1) (2) (8) * Class OF Commencement of operations May 23, 2008 Six Months Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended 31, , , , , 2012^ (0.18) (0.33) (0.32) (0.28) (0.25) () (0.07) (2.45) (3.54) (0.63) (1.48) Class W Commencement of operations May 8, 1996 Six Months Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended r Ended 31, , , , , 2012^ (0.04) (0.07) (0.07) (0.06) (0.05) (0.04) (0.06) (3.27) (0.60) ,122 96,975 1,826 0,512 94,933 97,778 3,068 3,123 3,332 3,971 4,688 5, ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 7.

11 (1) This information is derived from the Fund s semiannual and annual financial statements. (2) Net assets per unit and distributions per unit are based on the actual number of units outstanding for the relevant class at the relevant time. The increase (decrease) in net assets from operations per unit is based on the weighted average number of units outstanding for the relevant class over the fiscal period. (3) Distributions are automatically reinvested in additional units of the Fund. (4) Management expense ratio is calculated based on expenses charged to the Fund (excluding commissions and other portfolio transaction costs) and is expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets for the period. The Effective HST tax rate is calculated using the attribution percentage for each province based on unitholder residency and can be different from 13%. (5) The Fund s portfolio turnover rate indicates how actively the Fund s portfolio advisor manages its portfolio investments. A portfolio turnover rate of 0% is equivalent to the Fund buying and selling all of the securities in its portfolio once in the course of the fiscal period. The higher a Fund s portfolio turnover rate in a period, the greater the trading costs payable by the Fund in the period, and the greater the chance of an investor receiving taxable capital gains in the period. There is not necessarily a relationship between a higher turnover rate and the performance of a Fund. Portfolio turnover rate is calculated by dividing the lesser of the cost of purchases and the proceeds of sales of portfolio securities for the period, and excluding cash and shortterm investments maturing in less than one year, and before assets acquired from a merger, if applicable, by the average of the monthly fair value of investments during the period. (6) The trading expense ratio represents total commissions and other portfolio transaction costs disclosed in the statements of comprehensive income expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets of the Fund during the period. (7) For financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2013 the financial highlights are derived from the financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). IFRS allows net assets to be calculated based on the last traded market price for financial assets and financial liabilities where the last traded price falls within the day s bidask spread. There are no differences between the net assets calculated for purpose of processing unitholders transactions and the net assets attributable to holders of redeemable units used for financial statement reporting purposes. For financial years before April 1, 2013, the financial highlights are derived from the financial statements prepared in accordance with Canadian GAAP. Under Canadian GAAP net assets for financial statement purposes were calculated based on bid/ask price while for purpose of processing unitholder transactions net assets were calculated based on the closing market price. (8) This information is provided for the period ended June 30, 2017 and the years ended December

12 Real Estate Investment Pool PAST PERFORMANCE This section describes how the Fund has performed in the past. Remember, past returns do not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. The information shown assumes that distributions made by the Fund in the periods shown were reinvested in additional units of the relevant classes of the Fund. In addition, the information does not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or other optional charges that would have reduced returns or performance. rbyr Returns The following charts show the Fund s semiannual and annual performance for each of the periods shown and illustrate how the Fund s performance has changed from period to period. In percentage terms, the charts show how much an investment made on the first day of each financial period would have grown or decreased by the last day of each financial period, except where noted. Class A Class E Class I Class OF Jun Jun Jun Jun Class W Jun For the period from May 23, 2008 to December 31, For the period from September, 2008 to December 31, For the period from September 18, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

13 Summary of Investment Portfolio as at June 30, 2017 Portfolio Breakdown Percentage of Portfolio Breakdown (cont d) Percentage of Top 25 Holdings Percentage of Category Net Assets (%) Category Net Assets (%) Security Name Net Assets (%) Country allocation U.S.A Japan....6 U.K Hong Kong Australia Germany France Austria Cayman Islands Spain Cash & Equivalents Sweden Canada Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Cyprus Norway Brazil Belgium Other Net Assets (Liabilities) Malta Sector allocation Real Estate Financials Consumer Discretionary Cash & Equivalents Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Information Technology Other Net Assets (Liabilities) Private Placements AvalonBay Communities Inc Sun Communities Inc HCP Inc Essex Property Trust Inc Kilroy Realty Corp BUWOG AG Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd DEXUS Property Group Deutsche Wohnen AG UDR Inc Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd Colony Starwood Homes Extra Space Storage Inc Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd Segro PLC Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd Goodman Group Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd Hang Lung Properties Ltd GGP Inc Realty Income Corp Merlin Properties Socimi S.A Kiépierre Cousins Properties Inc., REIT Vornado Realty Trust Total Net Assets (in 000 s) 528,639 The summary of investment portfolio may change due to ongoing portfolio transactions of the Fund and updates will be available on a quarterly basis. A NOTE ON FORWARDLOOKING STATEMENTS This report may contain forwardlooking statements about the Fund, its future performance, strategies or prospects, and possible future Fund action. The words may, could, should, would, suspect, outlook, believe, plan, anticipate, estimate, expect, intend, forecast, objective, and similar expressions are intended to identify forwardlooking statements. Forwardlooking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forwardlooking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both about the Fund and general economic factors, so it is possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forwardlooking statements will not be achieved. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of important factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forwardlooking statement made by the Fund. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic, political and market factors in Canada, the United States and internationally, interest and foreign exchanges rates, global equity and capital markets, business competition, technological changes, changes in laws and regulations, judicial or regulatory judgments, legal proceedings and catastrophic events. The above list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Before making any investment decisions, we encourage you to consider these and other factors carefully. All opinions contained in forwardlooking statements are subject to change without notice and are provided in good faith but without legal responsibility.