Montreal-based Montrusco Bolton and Bermuda-based Focus Group will be sponsoring their second

Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2002

Montreal-based Montrusco Bolton and Bermuda-based Focus Group will be sponsoring their second conference this month in Toronto, Ontario. This will be the second of several conferences that the two firms will be initiating as part of a national campaign to educate and assist Canadian investors as they search for ways to better diversify their ailing portfolios. The conference will be held on May 15th at the Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel. The first ARS conference was held in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec last month where about 20 key pension funds participated. "The conference is unique in that prospective investors will have a chance to meet and listen to several of our underlying managers. This raises the transparency bar in the industry to a new level. In addition our head of research will discuss manager due diligence and risk monitoring. Several sessions on institutional liabilities and a panel discussion round out the agenda", says Frank Belvedere, Vice-President of Alternative Investments at Montrusco Bolton in Montreal. The Montrusco Bolton Focus Absolute Return Global Fund is a globally diversified portfolio of highly specialized hedge fund managers who have been chosen for their demonstrated ability to provide a stable pattern of absolute returns with significant focus on capital preservation. In 2001, performance was 8.4% on a pro forma basis and, since its launch in 2002, continues to outpace both equity markets and the hedge fund universe index. "We are moving aggressively in Canada because we know that we have top quality expertise in Absolute Return Strategies and Montrusco Bolton and Focus Group are strongly committed to becoming industry leaders. Through our quality approach and solid partnership, I am confident that we will achieve our goals. Sponsoring conferences will enable our clients to reach the necessary comfort level with the asset class and with us," adds Eugenio Verzili, Managing Director of Focus Group. Montrusco Bolton is a privately held company. Ownership is broadly distributed among 30 key employees who own approximately 30% of the shares outstanding and First International Asset Management Inc. (First Asset), which owns the remaining 70%. First Asset is a wealth management company based in Toronto, whose financial sponsors include CIBC World Markets, Goldman Sachs Mezzanine and Soros Partners. Together with its affiliates, First Asset manages over $25 billion. Focus Group pioneered the specialist driven "Multi-Manager" concept and has become a leader in alternative asset management. Focus Group is a global open organization able to tap into its extensive, worldwide network of the finest investment professionals, while using a unique "venture capital" approach to hedge fund investing.