Montréal, Québec, April 25, 2022
The Quebec Emerging Manager Program (“QEMP”) is proud to announce the selection of Authentic Asset Management Inc. to manage an alternative strategy mandate.

Authentic Asset Management Inc. (“Authentic”), an independent, privately owned investment company, has been managing assets for institutional and private wealth clients since 2015. The firm is transitioning its headquarters to Montréal and will continue to have offices in Toronto and a presence in the greater Boston area. Authentic is led by a seasoned team of investment professionals with decades of experience, including running in-house alternative strategies at one of Canada’s largest public pension investment managers, and leading global research teams.

The Authentic Event Driven Fund L.P., an alternative absolute return strategy, will launch with an allocation of approximately $22 million. The fund was created by Authentic’s team with a specific purpose: to offer investors a strategy with low correlation to equity markets designed to perform in all market cycles. Returns are generated from an event driven component that consists of M&A arbitrage, select corporate event driven situations, and an innovative macro-overlay to mitigate downside risk and add a source of risk-adjusted alpha. In an economic context where real returns are expected to diminish, the Fund, through a scalable and repeatable investment framework, is an opportunity to capitalize on catalysts notably stemming from new regulation, organizational change or a modification in a company’s capital structure while offering attractive diversification opportunities.

“We are excited about the potential of our partnership with the QEMP. Being part of this program not only accelerates our growth, but brings credibility and brand awareness, widens our addressable market for institutional investment and enhances our operational strength. By establishing our firm in Montréal, we look forward to elevating the city’s reputation as an international financial center and growing our presence here. It’s a true win-win.”

– Christian Fournier, Director, Authentic Asset Management

“Over the coming years, generating returns with less correlated risk will become more challenging and imply greater volatility. Investors will have to be more creative than ever. We believe ours is a compelling strategy for asset allocators to meet this need for diversification, particularly in a post-pandemic world. Clients can benefit from our experience targeting low equity correlation and hedging to reduce their exposure and diversify their portfolios.”

– Eric Green, Director, Authentic Asset Management

“We love what we do and bring that passion to serve the best interest of our clients. This is the mindset we intend to bring to our QEMP mandate, driven by our focus on preserving and building wealth. It’s this type of fresh thinking that led us to launch a strategy that serves as an alternative to traditional returns generated by equity and fixed income investments in order to generate attractive returns in all market cycles. Our team has built a strong network of institutional relationships and a reputation of integrity with a commitment to offer best-in-breed protocols that positions the firm, and our clients, for growth.”

– Duncan Webster, Chief Executive Officer, Authentic Asset Management

“The QEMP is delighted to welcome Authentic, a highly qualified team with deep roots in institutional investing, who chose Montréal to establish its firm and launch innovative strategies. This is a testament to Montréal’s importance as a major financial hub, and a place where emerging managers can scale their operations. Authentic’s Event Driven Fund is also prime example of the growing demand for alternative solutions among allocators as a way of meeting diversification requirements. This investment is aligned with our objectives of encouraging entrepreneurship, creating jobs and promoting local talent with global ambitions. We are excited about partnering with Authentic as they execute on their plan to grow in size and scale over the coming years.”

– Carolyn Cartier-Hawrish, Manager, QEMP

The Authentic Event Driven Fund L.P. will add diversification to the QEMP’s current portfolio composed of equity market neutral or long short (L/S) strategies. Last December, the Nordis ESG Absolute Return Fund L.P., an equity L/S strategy invested in global ESG megatrends, was launched with great success.

The PGEQ Fund L.P. has close to $400 million of assets under management as of December 31st,2021. Since announcing a strategic investment totalling $110 million from the Government of Québec and some of its initial investors in 2021, the QEMP has significantly accelerated its impact on the local asset management ecosystem. Six new emerging managers have joined the program, adding to the investment talent available to institutional allocators and diversifying investment portfolios with a broad range of traditional and now alternative solutions.

The QEMP, created in 2016, is well positioned to continue raising capital, deploy additional funds and ensure an orderly graduation process. As such, it continues to look for Québec-based independent emerging managers offering traditional strategies (fixed income, Canadian equity, US equity, global equity, sustainable or ESG strategies, etc.) and alternative strategies (hedge funds, sustainable or ESG strategies and real asset funds, etc.). In order to invest in the growth of leading managers of the future, the QEMP encourages other allocators, cities and municipalities, pension funds, foundations and universities to join the program.