Episode 9: Investing in Debt with Celernus’ Gord Martin

The Frontier

Gord brings 22 years of investment industry experience to his role as founder and Managing Partner of Celernus. Prior to founding Celernus Investment Partners, Gord spent over ten years with DundeeWealth in roles that included, Branch Manager, Regional Manager, Investment Advisor, Portfolio Manager and ultimately Chief Operating Officer of the Retail Division. He holds an Honours B.A in economics from the University of Waterloo and a MBA from The Simon School at the University of Rochester in the State of New York. As an Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager with Dundee he advised and managed approximately one hundred million dollars of client assets. 1:50 Opening 1:55 What is a mortgage-backed security? 3:51 What is a mortgage-based Mutual Fund? 7:58 How are these funds structured? How do you buy a mortgage? Why would a creditor sell a mortgage? 10:05 Why would a someone invest in a mortgage? 11:43 Can you walk through some of the benefits and drawbacks of investing in a mortgage-based mutual fund? 15:40 At Celernus, you manage a number of funds. Specifically, I wanted to ask you about the Celernus Mortgage and Income Trust Fund. Why did you choose to manage this fund? In other words, why invest in mortgages, and other debt? 23:16 Can you walk our listeners through how you evaluate a mortgage for investment? Does it differ based on the underlying asset (commercial vs. residential, etc.)? 26:10 Why do you have a positive outlook on this approach? Why continue to invest with it as a focus? 28:27 Based on my understanding, real estate prices, and interest rates would affect the performance of your fund. In that context: What do you think some of the primary opportunities and threats are to real estate prices and interest rates in Canada in the near term? 32:42 Describe the ideal investor for a debt-based fund in your mind. 33:55 What are some of the challenges facing retail equity investors in the current markets?