Beutel Goodman generally provides investment management and supervisory services on a
discretionary basis. The firm has been in business since 1967. Beutel Goodman currently has
120 employees working in the firm’s office at Suite 2000, 20 Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto.
As of December 31, 2023, the firm had US $35.87 billion in assets under management. Beutel
Goodman serves as an investment adviser or sub-adviser to various clients, including, but not
limited to, corporations and other business entities, trusts, estates, charities, employee benefit
plans, endowments, foundations, pension and profit sharing plans, and individuals. Please see
“Item 7 - Types of Clients” of this Brochure for more information with respect to the firm’s
clients.
Principal Ownership
Beutel Goodman’s principal owners are the Beutel Goodman Voting Trust and Affiliated
Managers Group, Inc. (“AMG”).
Beutel Goodman Voting Trust is composed of a group of 105 current and former employees of
Beutel Goodman and holds as a group a 51% interest in Beutel Goodman.
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (Prides Crossing, MA, U.S.A.), a publicly-traded asset
management company (NYSE:AMG), holds a minority 49% position through its indirect
ownership interest in AMG Canada Corp. (Toronto, Ontario) and First Asset Capital
Management III Inc. (Toronto, Ontario), Canadian-based financial services holding companies.
AMG also holds equity interests in other investment management firms (“AMG Affiliates”).
Further information on AMG and AMG’s Affiliates is provided in Item 10.
Advisory Services
Beutel Goodman is a discretionary investment manager specializing in portfolio management
strategies for institutional investors. We also offer portfolio management for high net worth and
retail investors, and sub-advise for certain investment funds domiciled in Canada, the U.S. and
Ireland. In addition, the firm manages a family of public proprietary mutual funds. Beutel
Goodman provides clients with access to the following asset classes: American Equity, Global
Equity, International Equity, Canadian Equity, Canadian Fixed Income and US Fixed Income.
Please see Item 8 for a description of Beutel Goodman’s strategies.
As an asset manager for institutional and individual clients, Beutel Goodman recognizes that all
of our clients are unique and that, therefore, their investment needs may be different. As such,
we may modify our primary investment strategies, as necessary, to meet the goals that our clients
specify, in an effort to accommodate the particular investment objectives and accompanying
restrictions requested by our clients. At the commencement of the client relationship, each of
our clients executes a discretionary investment management agreement, and sets forth their
investment objectives, investment strategy and any investment restrictions that will be applicable
to our management of the assets in the client’s account. Prior to the execution of the agreement,
we review requested objectives and restrictions and work with the client as needed to refine these
objectives and restrictions to both meet the client’s needs and provide us with sufficient
discretion to properly invest the client’s assets.
Wrap Fee Programs
“Wrap arrangements,” “wrap fee programs,” and/or “wrap fee accounts”
involve individually-
managed accounts for individual or institutional clients. The wrap fee accounts are offered as
part of a larger program by a “sponsor,” usually a brokerage, banking or investment advisory
firm, and managed by one or more investment advisers. Beutel Goodman has agreements with
various wrap fee program sponsors through which Beutel Goodman’s services are offered as an
investment option within the wrap fee program and, accordingly, Beutel Goodman provides
investment management services to those clients who select Beutel Goodman as part of the
program. As described in Item 5, the sponsor typically pays a portion of its program fee to
Beutel Goodman for its services.
Generally, Beutel Goodman’s management of wrap fee accounts and other accounts under the
same investment strategy is consistent. Although we cannot necessarily offer the same level of
portfolio customization to wrap fee accounts that is offered to other accounts within an
investment strategy, we do offer our wrap fee sponsors the opportunity to customize their
portfolios by imposing reasonable investment restrictions on their account.
Beutel Goodman is responsible for trade execution in some, but not all, wrap fee programs.
When responsible for executing trades for our wrap fee program accounts, Beutel Goodman may
trade with different broker/dealers than for our other accounts even when trading in the same
security pursuant to the same strategy. When trading in our wrap fee accounts, and while Beutel
Goodman continues to seek best execution when selecting brokers, trades for wrap fee program
accounts are typically directed to the wrap fee program sponsor (or its designated broker/dealer),
since brokerage commissions are included in the wrap fee. In such situations, Beutel Goodman
may be required to trade a wrap fee program’s accounts separately from other accounts being
managed within the same strategy. While directed brokerage is designed to benefit the wrap fee
program account through lower trading costs, there may be some circumstances where directed
trades do not receive the best price, or where dividing the trade into separate components may
inhibit Beutel Goodman’s ability to obtain the same level of or as timely execution it may
otherwise have been able to obtain if it had been able to execute the entire trade with one
broker/dealer. Wrap program accounts also generally do not participate in new issues.
Operational limitations with these types of accounts make trading away from the sponsor
difficult. To the extent that Beutel Goodman trades away from the sponsor by placing trades
with a different brokerage firm, the client will typically incur the costs associated with this
trading, in addition to the wrap fees normally payable. Subject to these limitations, Beutel
Goodman continues to employ methods, such as trade rotation and periodic brokerage review, in
an effort to reduce the impact of these issues. Clients who enroll in these programs should
satisfy themselves that the sponsor is able to provide best price and execution of transactions.
Assets Under Management
As noted above, as of December 31, 2023, Beutel Goodman’s client assets under management
total (“AUM”) is US $35.87 billion. Please see Beutel Goodman’s Form ADV Part 1A – Item
5.F for more information.