Fund Evaluator:

North Square Multi Strategy A Overview

North Square Multi Strategy A (ORILX) is an actively managed Allocation Aggressive Allocation fund. North Square launched the fund in 1999.

The investment seeks to provide capital appreciation. The fund is a "fund of funds" that seeks to achieve its investment objective by primarily investing in other mutual funds ("underlying funds"). It primarily invests in mutual funds managed by the fund's advisor but may also invest in unaffiliated mutual funds or exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") to gain exposure to asset classes not available through a fund managed by the Advisor. The fund is a multi-strategy fund that will invest directly or indirectly through underlying funds in equity securities and fixed income securities.

About North Square Multi Strategy A (ORILX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.56 years: Brad Thompson (2021), Clayton Wilkin (2022), David Appleby (2022). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. North Square Multi Strategy A has 15 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 90.1% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

North Square Multi Strategy A is part of the Allocation global asset class and is within the Allocation fund group. North Square Multi Strategy A has 23.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 57.0%. There is 18.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 7.4% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 13.8% (9.4% domestic bond, 4.5% foreign bond and 0.4% convertible bond). North Square Multi Strategy A has 2.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $30 million in total assets, which is below the $561 million average for the Aggressive Allocation category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

ORILX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The North Square Multi Strategy A expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Aggressive Allocation category. North Square Multi Strategy A has an expense ratio of 1.58%, which is 38% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. North Square Multi Strategy A has a portfolio turnover rate of 26%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 47% for the Aggressive Allocation category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, North Square Multi Strategy A returned -0.5%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Aggressive Allocation category had an average return of -0.6%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

North Square Multi Strategy A has a trailing yield of 1.41%, which is above the 0.94% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

North Square Multi Strategy A Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 9.0%, 0.4 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 16.6% over the past year (grade of D), 12.7% over the past three years (grade of D) and 7.5% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 10.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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