Synergy Launches Two New Canadian "Firsts" Funds

September 22, 1998

(Toronto) Synergy Mutual Funds (Synergy) is launching two new funds today, both of which are the first of their kind in Canada - Global Style Management Class and Synergy Tactical Asset Allocation Fund. Both funds leverage off the complex power of proprietary quantitative technology to take Synergy's "style diversification" approach to new heights.

Global Style Management Class is a pure global equity fund which diversifies across the proven investment styles of value, growth, momentum and small cap as well as by geographic region, country and industry. A proprietary complex quantitative model screens over 5,000 global stocks by investment style, geographic region, country and industry to find the best 100 global value, growth, momentum and small cap stocks.

"We feel that the recent global market corrections make this the perfect time to launch our Global Style Management Class," says Joe Canavan, President and CEO of Synergy Mutual Funds. "There are phenomenal buying opportunities worldwide as a result of the recent sell off."

"We see our role as creating wealth and prosperity for Canadian investors," continues Canavan. "The Canadian stock market accounts for less than three per cent of the world's stock markets and the TSE has underperformed the MSCI by 7.6% per year since 1981. Our new global fund allows investors to capitalize on the world markets making them less vulnerable to the negative changes affecting the Canadian market."

Global Style Management Class is led by portfolio manager Michael Mahoney who designed the quantitative model used to manage the fund.

While investors are aware of the benefits of diversification, the need to diversify across investment styles has long been overlooked. Diversifying by investment style can lead to higher risk adjusted returns. Synergy is the first mutual fund company to offer domestic and global equity style diversification and tactical asset allocation with a style diversification twist, all within one fund family.

Synergy Tactical Asset Allocation Fund is a simple, conservative, balanced fund which also uses complex quantitative technology as its foundation. The main components of the fund are fixed income securities, Canadian equities, global equities as well as cash and/or cash equivalents.

The fund's lead manager, David Picton, uses a proprietary computer model to determine the "tilt" or percentage of each asset class in the fund based on the best possible returns and the most acceptable risk. He examines a complex array of historical and forecast data to compare the relative yields of cash and/or cash equivalents to Canadian and global equities and fixed income securities. Finally, he determines the best asset and style allocation based on the most attractive risk adjusted returns.

"This fund is the ultimate diversified investment product," says Canavan. "It offers asset class diversification, Canadian equity diversification by investment style, fixed income diversification and global diversification across investment style, geographic region, country and industry."

At the outset when founding Synergy Mutual Funds, Canavan decided to create a new type of mutual fund company which would add value to Canadian investors. In addition to Global Style Management Class and the Synergy Tactical Asset Allocation Fund, Synergy offers Canadian Style Management Class, Canadian Value Class, Canadian Growth Class, Canadian Momentum Class and Canadian Small Cap Class.

Other fund managers include: Suzann Pennington, Canadian Value Class; Andrew McCreath, Canadian Growth Class; and Peter Hodson, Canadian Small Cap Class.

Contact:
Sharon Vanderwerff
Manager, Communications & Public Relations
416 202-6076
1 888-664-4784