Lee Chin’s AIC looks to oil firms for growth

On a bet that the price of oil, now hovering at a historical high of US$70 per barrel, will not crash in the near future, Michael Lee Chin’s AIC has invested in several emerging energy-based companies. On Thursday, AIC’s senior vice president James Cole told investors in Jamaica why at least one of the funds operated by the investment firm holds 17 per cent of its assets in the energy sector.

Cole was on a sales pitch for the Canada based AIC, which has five of its funds available in Jamaica through NCB Capital Markets and Mayberry Investments.
“Get used to it,” said Cole of the high oil price, as he addressed potential investors who turned up at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston for the seminar.

“The price mechanism will now work to push the price of oil high enough to get people to reduce their consumption.”
Cole and AIC believe that the high price represents a lucrative investment opportunity for mutual funds.

The AIC vice-president directly manages two funds – AIC Canadian Focused Fund, and AIC American Focused Fund, both of which are relatively heavily invested in energy.

Jamaica Observer