At Picton Mahoney Asset Management, we believe that portfolio construction is one of the great differentiators in the Canadian investment industry. Through our Portfolio Construction Consultation Service for advisors, we offer you access to data analytics, as well as stress testing and scenario analysis to help you design portfolios that aim to achieve better outcomes and help your clients stay invested in all market conditions.
Our experienced portfolio consulting professionals are a multi-disciplinary
team with backgrounds in asset allocation, risk management, quantitative
research and portfolio management.
We are committed to building a true partnership with you, centered
around a disciplined, consistent and defensible approach for constructing
portfolios. Our goal is to provide you with more tools to design
portfolios that will meet your precise needs and the needs of your
clients.
Through PCCS, we help advisors to clearly define their investment goals, diagnose unintended risks, and design portfolios that offer the potential to more efficiently and consistently achieve desired outcomes. Specifically, our analytics and insights are focused on providing value across four areas:
Complete the form below to schedule a review of your portfolio.
This first call is to develop an understanding of what you are seeking to achieve through the portfolio consulting process (What challenges are you looking to solve for? What is the main goal for the portfolio? Is there a specific outcome you are seeking to achieve?) and determine how the PCCS team can provide insight.
The portfolio is quantitatively analyzed using a suite of proprietary tools.
The PCCS team presents the analysis and shares insights and ideas to help fortify the portfolio, with the goal of structuring the portfolio so that it may achieve its objectives more efficiently and consistently.
We are committed to building a true partnership, and the PCCS team is available to discuss our thinking on portfolio construction strategies.
Robert joined Picton Mahoney Asset Management in December 2019. Past roles include Vice President, ETF Leader at BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited and Sales Associate at PIMCO. Robert has an MBA from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.
Pawan joined Picton Mahoney Asset Management in November 2021 after holding multiple roles within the BlackRock organization (in Australia and Canada). He led the portfolio consulting services function within Blackrock's Canadian iShares business, and prior to that, he was a portfolio manager in the Multi-Asset Strategies team within Blackrock's Australian business. Pawan graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Engineering with majors in Management, Investment Finance and Information Technology. Pawan holds the Financial Risk Manager designation and is also a CFA charterholder.
Dedicated to providing portfolio analysis and consulting services to advisors, Hank joined Picton Mahoney Asset Management in 2021. Previously, he worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Canada Life and an analyst at OPTrust. Hank holds a Masters of Mathematical Finance from the University of Toronto.
The product analytics group is an in-house team of specialists who conduct in-depth industry research and provide detailed product analysis and comparison reports.
The role that bonds played in a traditional balanced portfolio over the past 20 years may not hold true in today’s market conditions. When interest rates were near zero, market watchers were saying that ‘bonds are broken’ because they offered little to no income or return potential. Now that interest rates have normalized, we see growing enthusiasm for bonds from investors, however we argue that bonds are still broken – not because of reduced income potential but rather because they offer reduced diversification potential. Here’s how investment advisors can rethink strategic asset allocation to ensure that portfolios may provide the resilience and downside protection that investors expect, even if we are in an environment where bonds will be more volatile and provide less diversification.
Inflation concerns persist in the final quarter of the year. We had previously looked forward to signs of a recovery rally toward the end of 2022, but one of the three conditions – the U.S. Federal Reserve willing to pause its aggressive tightening stance – appears unlikely. The other two conditions – inflation reaching its peak and the economy stabilizing – could soon be in place. But we remain concerned that equities may hit new bear market lows before they can stage a meaningful rally.
Risk assets still face significant headwinds as the second half of 2022 begins. Inflation has remained stubbornly high, the U.S. Federal Reserve seems determined to restore price stability, and the economy is expected to decelerate quickly. Investors need to be patient and wait for these headwinds to turn into tailwinds. When tailwinds do emerge, equities may stage a sharp rally given that current sentiment is extremely bearish.
The headwinds that we discussed last quarter continue to pressure risk assets, but with even more force than we initially anticipated, as a result of several new developments. However, we expect these headwinds to continue into the summer months before beginning to dissipate, and then eventually yielding to tailwinds that could drive the next upward move for stocks.
The macro backdrop for the first half of 2022 is not very friendly and will likely feature a recalibration of asset prices to account for decelerating economic growth, high inflation readings and tightening monetary policy. The market cycle remains intact, but these near-term headwinds are likely to bring better buying opportunities that can take advantage of better tailwinds in the back half of 2022.
In a challenged bond environment and a volatile equity market, taking a multi-asset/multi-strategy approach can potentially help diversify the risks that investors are taking and enhance the quality of returns in portfolios.
Michael White, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Multi-Asset Strategies discusses the expanded tool kit used in multi-asset/multi-strategy like shorting stocks and bonds, using options to manage volatility, and including more exposure to asset classes and alternative strategies to help achieve diversification within all parts of the portfolio.
Robert Wilson, CFA, Head of Portfolio Construction Consultation Service at Picton Mahoney Asset Management joins us to discuss how changing capital market assumptions are creating misalignment between investors’ goals and the strategic asset allocation of their investment portfolios. Given the low interest rate environment, many investors have been seeking thoughtful ways to reduce their allocation to core bonds. Robert explains the tradeoffs involved with this decision and how investors can design portfolios with the potential for improved outcomes by thinking alternatively and taking a total portfolio approach to “fixing” fixed income.
Mike Lynds, Managing Director, Head of Retail Business and Robert Wilson, CFA, Head of Portfolio Construction Consultation Service at Picton Mahoney Asset Management join us to discuss how changing capital market assumptions are creating misalignment between investors’ goals and the strategic asset allocation of their investment portfolios. Given the low interest rate environment, many investors have been seeking thoughtful ways to reduce their allocation to core bonds. Robert explains the tradeoffs involved with this decision and how investors can design portfolios with the potential for improved outcomes by thinking alternatively and taking a total portfolio approach to “fixing” fixed income.
The low interest rate environment continues to challenge long-only
bond investors searching for income and capital gains while mitigating
downside risk.
The new Picton Mahoney Fortified Special Situations Alternative Fund
uses event-driven credit investing to uncover opportunities for alpha
within “special situations” such as news of a merger and acquisition,
a potential early bond refinancing, or a regulatory change. The aim
of the fund is to provide an uncorrelated and diversified return
stream for investors seeking income and capital gains.
Phil Mesman, CFA, Head of Fixed Income, Sam Acton, CFA, Portfolio
Manager, and Ashley Kay, Strategist, discuss what they’re seeing
in fixed income and the type of special situations that can drive
alpha in the portfolio.
All investments carry some element of risk. In the last article in
our three-part series, How Well Does Volatility Measure Risk,
our Portfolio Construction Consultation Service (PCCS) noted that volatility had become investors’ preferred measure of
risk and laid out some of the drawbacks of using volatility alone
as a risk measure.
In this article, they describe additional tools investors can use
to understand the risks they are taking to mitigate unintended and/or
unrewarded risks, and to better understand whether the risks they
are taking intentionally are scaled appropriately.
Today, mean-variance analysis has become one of the most important quantitative tools used by the financial industry, and volatility has become the widely accepted standard for measuring and expressing the level of risk in an investment portfolio. In our analysis, we scrutinize this factor measure, highlighting eight reasons why volatility is a poor gauge of risk, especially when used to analyze alternative investments.
In the current interest rate environment, the role of bonds in portfolios is compromised. Government bonds offer very little yield and credit is expensive, so where do advisors go from here?
In our first in a series of Alternative Ideas webinars, Re-Positioning Your Fixed Income For 2021, we discuss alternative income strategies to help advisors fortify their fixed income allocation for 2021.
In today’s near-zero interest rate environment, merger arbitrage strategies
can potentially fill a void left by traditional bond holdings in
portfolios. Like bonds, merger arbitrage can provide a low risk and
low volatility investing experience, but with less interest rate
risk if you consider the possibility of a rising rate environment.
In our second in a series of Alternative Ideas webinars, Merger Arbitrage:
An Alternative to Income, we navigate merger arbitrage strategies
and the world of SPACs to help advisors understand the environment
moving forward in 2021.
In today’s investing environment where credit spreads are tight and rising yields are signaling growing inflation expectations, portfolios need diversifiers, but traditional fixed income is challenged.
A market neutral strategy by its very name aims to have no directional exposure to the equity or to the bond market. It can act as a substitute to bonds, providing a steady source of return in portfolios that is uncorrelated to equities. In our third Alternative Ideas webinar, we break down how a market neutral strategy generates returns through stock selection, where we are finding opportunities and what we see moving forward in the macro environment.
In a challenged bond environment adopting a total portfolio approach
can help advisors regain balance through careful diversification.
Michael White, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Multi-Asset Strategies discusses
why it’s increasingly difficult to allocate assets and why addressing
only the fixed income allocation in portfolios can leave open so
much opportunity to achieving a properly diversified portfolio.
Stock markets have rallied dramatically over the past year. Given we
are still early in a new economic cycle, we expect investors will
continue to buy during any market pullbacks. However, any significant
increase in inflation expectations that would suddenly drive interest
rates higher would cause us to revisit this positive outlook.
Have you found your sweet spot of portfolio risk?
By: Wealth Professional
Published on May 2, 2022
'We want to be the default expert in portfolio construction'
By: Wealth Professional
Published on December 14, 2021
By: Business Wire
Published on November 25, 2021
If your Capital Market Assumptions Have Changed, Why Hasn't your Portfolio?
By: Insight is CapitalTM Podcast, Advisor Analyst
Published on October 5, 2021
By: Business Wire
Published on April 15, 2021
Constructing Resilient Portfolios with Picton Mahoney
By: Asset TV Canada
Published on April 15, 2021
Picton Mahoney Asset Management specializes in differentiated investment solutions and rules-based volatility management. Picton Mahoney helps its clients fortify their portfolios based on experience honed over the years through different market cycles and investing environments.
Founded in 2004 and 100% employee owned, Picton Mahoney is a portfolio management boutique entrusted with approximately C$9.0 billion (as at May 31, 2022) in assets under management. Pioneers of Authentic Hedge® investment principles and practices in Canada, the firm offers a full suite of investment solutions, including mutual and alternative funds, to institutional and retail investors across the country.
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without notification and should not be construed as investment advice.
This material should not be relied upon for any investment decision
and is not a recommendation, solicitation or offering of any security
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advice specific to any person, and should not be relied upon in that
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appropriate, only with guidance from a qualified professional.
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There is no guarantee that a hedging strategy will be effective or achieve its intended effects. The use of derivatives or short selling carries several risks which may restrict a strategy in realizing its profits, limiting its losses, or, which cause a strategy to realize or magnify losses. There may be additional costs and expenses associated with the use of derivatives and short selling in a hedging strategy.
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