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fund watch

George MorganLouie Palu/The Globe and Mail

Fund managers come and go, but it sure is nice to let unitholders know when they leave.

Mackenzie Financial Corp. fell down on the job time when high-profile manager George Morgan, who ran Cundill American Class, quietly slipped away at the end of December after less than a year on the fund.

No press release. Nada.

In fact, Mackenzie, a unit of IGM Financial Inc. has not even informed Globe Investor because his name was still listed on Friday morning as a manager of Cundill American Class on our Web site.

The Irish-born Mr. Morgan was formerly with Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. in Toronto for five years before going to Nassau, Bahamas, to run the giant Templeton Growth Fund from 2001 to late 2006.

One unitholder wrote to me, saying: "I am disgusted that Mackenzie made no announcement" like when it trumpeted Mr. Morgan joining the company on Jan. 12, 2009 in a press release. Mackenzie chief executive officer Charles Sims then described him as "an experienced global value investor who brings many years of investment success to the Cundill team."

Morningstar Canada, which had Cundill American Class as a fund-analyst pick, is likewise annoyed, and has just put the fund under review. "We're disappointed that Mackenzie didn't make a greater effort to communicate this succession aside from the updated management profiles on its website," analyst Philip Lee wrote.

So what gives? "George Morgan left to pursue other personal interests," Trish Tervit, a spokeswoman for Mackenzie, said in an e-mail on Friday. It appears that David Slater has been lead manager since Mr. Morgan's departure, along with Lawrence Chin as co-manager.

It's not surprising that fund companies don't want to tell unitholders that a manager has left for fear of not only losing sales, but also triggering redemptions. And Mackenzie, which has been suffered from net outflows ( including $76-million in March) for many months, certainly does not need any more bleeding.

Not every fund company will broadcast manager departures, but one would have expected more transparency from a firm whose parent is Canada's largest publicly traded fund company.

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