INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
Folco Real Estate
Overview
The strategy offers exposure to a diversified portfolio of high quality real estate equities with the objective of providing high and consistent income in a risk-controlled framework. Listed commercial real estate provides persistent income streams, through a tax-efficient monthly distribution, combined with long term capital gains potential. Canadian real estate investments trust (REITs) are occasionally mispriced and provide opportunities for tactical asset allocation shifts.
Details
Investment Team

François-Olivier Laplante
PartnerSenior Portfolio Manager, REITs
From 2003 to 2014, Mr. Laplante served as Vice-President, Director and Head of Liability Trading on the Institutional Equity Trading team at Desjardins Securities, part of a $260 billion financial institution. He was in charge of managing the firm’s liability book, covering telecoms, REITs, industrials, rails, energy infrastructure, independent power producers, pipelines and utilities. He facilitated equity block transactions by pricing potential trades and managing the firm's trading capital to encourage activity among Desjardins institutional clients. Mr. Laplante's extensive experience, gained from years of deploying large amounts of risk capital on both the long and short sides, enable him to execute multiple trading strategies successfully with an overriding focus on risk management. He served previously with National Bank Financial, where he worked as an equity proprietary trader and institutional equity liability trader from 2000 to 2003. Mr. Laplante holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Laval University where he was a starter for the Rouge et Or basketball team.