The truth about mutual fund investing is that not all funds are created equal. Some masquerade as active market participants when in reality they largely mirror index weightings – and charge a hefty management fee when all they’ve done is provide good relative performance rather than absolute returns.

Still others take a flavour-of-the-month approach to investing with little regard to sustainability or long-term after inflation, after-tax returns. This play-the-market philosophy is widespread: the average hold period of US mutual funds is just four years.

If the current universe of funds available just isn’t capturing your imagination, or more to the point is failing to meet your financial needs, it’s time to discover something better: Galileo Funds.

History

Galileo Funds is part of the Galileo Global Equity Advisors Inc. organization. Galileo Global Equity Advisors Inc. is a leading provider of active equity and royalty trust portfolio management services for high net worth individuals, corporate pension plans and endowments, as well as Galileo Funds.

Our managers are based in both Toronto and Calgary and have, on average, a quarter century of global investing experience with a bias toward special equity and small cap sectors as well as rules-based portfolio construction and asset allocation.

Research

You would expect a fund company named after one of history’s most famous iconoclasts to dig deeper, search more extensively, and not accept stories – however compelling – at face value.

We more than meet these expectations through a dedicated research process that allows us to look for – and find –hidden investment truths.

Our process involves the use of database screens for valuation analysis, but is far from clinical. We meet regularly with the management teams of companies we invest in. We ask tough questions, insist on honest answers, and seek third-party validation of what we’ve heard through regular field trips and our extensive network of industry contacts.

And we don’t limit ourselves to Canada. Our managers travel globally to understand competitive the threats and opportunities that foreign markets pose. This allows us to see the big picture as well as the minute details that make or break companies and industries.

Organization

There is more than meets the eye to the Galileo Fund organization. In addition to our managers, and the independent investment professionals who represent our funds, we engage leading specialists to deliver services to our unitholders, including:

• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the independent custodian of the Funds’ cash and investments
• CIBC Mellon Global Securities, our registrar who maintains a record of investors in each fund, processes orders and provides statements to you
• Smith, Nixon & Co., LLP, Chartered Accountants, the independent auditor of our funds