Copeland Capital Management, LLC (“Copeland” or “CCM”) is headquartered in Conshohocken,
Pennsylvania. Copeland was initially founded in 2005, as a Massachusetts limited liability
company and state-registered investment adviser with an office in Wellesley,
Massachusetts. Copeland changed its registration from a Massachusetts-registered investment
adviser to a SEC- registered investment adviser in 2007. The inception of Copeland’s “dividend
growth” strategy was in 2006. In 2009, Copeland became a Delaware limited liability company
and moved its headquarters to Conshohocken, Pennsylvania as the firm brought on additional
partners and expanded its investment capabilities. Copeland is 100% employee-owned, and
ownership is shared broadly among employees.
As of January 31, 2024, Copeland managed $4.77 billion of assets on a discretionary basis.
(“Assets Under Management” or “AUM”).
As of January 31, 2024, Copeland provided services for $3.34 billion in assets in a “non-
discretionary” capacity. These assets are generally referred to as “Assets Under Advisement” or
“AUA” and represent assets for which Copeland serves as a model portfolio provider, as described
in Item 4. Copeland does not have discretion or trading authority over these assets.
Advisory Services and Tailoring Services to Client Needs
Copeland provides investment management services to individuals, investment companies
registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”), pension and
profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, state and municipal government
entities, corporations and business entities, pooled investment vehicles, as well as others (see Item
7 for additional information). Copeland offers its services for a fee based upon assets under
management. Prior to engaging Copeland to provide investment advisory services, the client will
be required to enter one or more written investment management agreements (“IMA”) with
Copeland setting forth the terms and conditions under which Copeland shall render its services.
We typically manage accounts on a discretionary basis; however, we will manage client accounts
on a non-discretionary basis subject to client instruction. Individual client investment constraints,
if any, shall be set forth by the client in the IMA. Investment advisory services are provided to
clients based on the objectives of the client and mutually agreed upon written investment
guidelines submitted by the client or client’s representative. Clients can impose restrictions on
investing in certain securities or types of securities at any time. Copeland’s clients are advised to
promptly notify Copeland if there are ever any changes in their investment objectives or if they
wish to impose or remove any reasonable restrictions upon Copeland’s investment management
services.
For clients that participate in Copeland’s discretionary investment management services, Copeland
requires such clients to grant our firm discretionary authority to manage the account. Discretionary
authorization will allow Copeland to, among other things, execute transactions on behalf of the
account, allocate, and rebalance the account portfolio(s) without client approval prior to each
transaction. Discretionary authority is typically granted by the IMA. Clients may limit Copeland’s
discretionary authority (for example, limiting the types of securities that can be purchased for the
account) by providing Copeland with account restrictions and guidelines in writing. For clients
that enter non-discretionary arrangements with Copeland, written approval is required by clients
prior to executing any transactions on behalf of the account, including allocating, rebalancing
and/or withdrawing account assets on behalf of the client.
Copeland employs a conservative and disciplined investment philosophy and approach, which is
consistently implemented across all strategies, as described below.
Copeland’s Domestic Strategies
Large Cap Dividend Growth – the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects
its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
Mid Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects
its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
Smid Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects
its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
Small Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects
its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
Micro Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects
its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
All Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range that reflects its
benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
Large Cap Dividend Growth Stop Loss - the strategy invests in stocks with market cap range
that reflects its benchmark, focused on companies demonstrating the strongest dividend growth
and relative valuation. In addition, the strategy has a relative stop loss feature to attempt to
minimize losses in individual stocks.
Fixed Income / Balanced - the strategy invests in issues of high-quality securities with an
intermediate term focus. Balanced allocation flexible based on market activity and client
objectives.
Copeland’s International Strategies
International All Cap Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a market cap range
that reflects its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend growth.
International Small Cap Diversified Dividend Growth - the strategy invests in stocks with a
market cap range that reflects its benchmark, focused on companies with consistent dividend
growth.
Global Equity Dividend Growth (Global All Cap and Global Small Cap Dividend Growth) -
the strategies invest in stocks with a market cap range that reflects its benchmark, focused on
companies with consistent dividend growth.
International All Cap Dividend Growth ADR – the strategy invests in domestically traded
American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of international equities, focused on companies with
consistent dividend growth.
Investment Adviser to Copeland Trust
Copeland serves as the investment adviser to the Copeland Trust, an investment company
registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. There are currently three (3) funds in the Trust - the
Copeland Dividend Growth Fund (the “Dividend Growth Fund”), the Copeland SMID Cap
Dividend Growth Fund (the “SMID Cap Fund”), and the Copeland International Small Cap Fund
(the “International Fund”) (collectively, the “Funds” or “Copeland Funds”). Services provided by
Copeland include the selection of investments per the Funds’ investment objectives, policies, and
restrictions. The Dividend Growth Fund is available in Class A, C and I shares; the SMID Cap
and International Funds are available in Class A and I shares.
Other Types of Investments
If appropriate, Copeland will provide advice about exchange traded funds (ETFs) and any type of
investment held in a client’s portfolio at the beginning of the advisory relationship. If a client
requests a security in their account at the start of our investment advisory relationship continue to
be held in their account, even though Copeland would not purchase and hold that security in the
strategy selected, Copeland would mark the security as “unsupervised”. We would not include the
“unsupervised” asset(s) in Copeland’s assets under management and advisory fee calculations or
performance, and Copeland would generally not offer investment advice on the “unsupervised”
asset(s).
Generally, clients will receive written quarterly evaluations of their account(s) accompanied by an
analysis of performance. However, clients are urged to refer to their custodian statements for
current valuations, as custodians utilize settlement date for trades versus our valuations, which are
based on trade date. Any information about an “unsupervised” security would also be included in
the custodian statement. Copeland is also available for periodic meetings at the request of the
client.
Sponsored Advisory Accounts - Wrap Fee Programs
Copeland offers investment supervisory services on a discretionary basis to clients under wrap fee
programs (the “Program(s)” or “Wrap Fee Program(s)”) sponsored by third party investment
advisers, broker-dealers or other financial services firms (the “Sponsor(s)”). Depending on the
structure of each Program, a client may enter into a contract with Copeland and/or the Sponsor. In
most Programs, the Sponsor is responsible for establishing the financial circumstances, investment
objectives and investment restrictions applicable to each client. The client’s Program agreement
with
the Sponsor generally sets forth the services to be provided to the client by or on behalf of
the Sponsor, which can include, among other things: (i) asset manager selection; (ii) trade
execution, often without a transaction-specific commission or charge; (iii) custodial services; (iv)
periodic monitoring of investment manager; and (v) performance reporting.
Clients are generally charged by the Sponsor a comprehensive “wrap fee” based upon a percentage
of the value of the assets under management to cover the Program’s services. The wrap fee often,
but not always, includes the advisory fees charged by Copeland (or other managers) through the
Program. Where the services are included in the wrap fee, the Sponsor typically collects the wrap
fee from the client and remits the advisory fee to Copeland (or other participating managers).
In certain Programs, clients also may be required to execute a separate agreement directly with
each investment manager, such as Copeland, or the investment manager may be made party to the
client/Sponsor agreement (“Dual Contract Programs”). In Dual Contract Programs, Copeland’s
fee is typically paid directly by the client pursuant to a separate agreement between Copeland and
the client.
Clients participating in Programs may also be subject to additional fees, expenses and charges
(e.g., commissions on transactions executed by a broker-dealer other than the Sponsor or the
Program’s designated broker-dealer(s), expenses with respect to investment in pooled vehicles
(such as ETFs and money market and other registered investment companies), dealer mark-ups or
mark-downs on principal transactions, and certain costs or charges imposed by the Sponsor or a
third-party, such as odd-lot differentials, exchange fees and transfer taxes mandated by law).
Participants in the Programs may pay a higher aggregate fee than if investment management,
brokerage, custodial, and other services are paid for separately. The complete schedule of the wrap
fees is set forth in each Sponsor’s brochure related to the Program. The Sponsors’ brochures and
this brochure are generally provided by the Sponsors to clients of the Programs prior to or
concurrent with their engagement in the Programs. Generally, the client may terminate their
agreement with Sponsors and Copeland at will. Termination clauses vary, and clients are advised
to read each Program’s’ brochure thoroughly prior to investing. The Program brochure for each
Sponsor is available through the SEC’s website at
https://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
The Programs in which Copeland participates are identified in Copeland’s ADV Part 1. Aside from
differences such as fees and the ability to select broker-dealers to execute trades, the accounts are
managed in the same manner as other accounts at Copeland. The Sponsors are responsible for
client interaction.
Model Delivery Arrangements
Copeland provides investment recommendations in the form of a model portfolio to a Sponsor or
third-party firms such as Unified Managed Account (“UMA”) platforms and other registered
investment advisers, who then utilize all or part of the model in managing their clients’ accounts
(collectively, “Model Programs”). With regards to Model Programs, Copeland provides model
portfolios and any updates to the model portfolios to Model Programs in exchange for a fee. The
Model Programs will then utilize the model to invest their clients’ accounts. Copeland does not
receive client-level information in the majority of these relationships and any client information
which passes through to Copeland is not used by Copeland in the model delivery process.
Copeland’s obligation in these relationships is to provide updated model allocations in a timely
manner for the strategy or strategies outlined in a written arrangement. While an account can be
formatted as a separately managed account within these model delivery relationships, Copeland
does not have trading authority over these accounts as it does for the discretionary accounts
described above. Another common account structure in model delivery arrangements is the UMA.
The UMA structure has a single account consisting of multiple strategies instead of a single
strategy. The strategies will be a combination of Copeland’s strategies and other investment
managers’ strategies. The implementation of the strategy and continual servicing of your account
in these relationships is handled by the platform or adviser.
Copeland will send notification to the Model Programs when their placement in the Copeland
trading rotation arrives but may not wait for the Model Programs to complete their trading (as
further detailed below) before moving on in the rotation. We do not offer any additional services
to Model Programs; the Sponsor is responsible for all trading and client interaction. Model
Programs accounts’ assets are not included in Copeland’s regulatory assets under management.
The assets are considered “assets under advisement”, which, as of January 31, 2024, totaled
approximately $3.34 billion. These assets are not considered discretionary or non-discretionary
assets under management.
The recommendations implicit in the model portfolios provided to the Sponsor may reflect
recommendations being made by Copeland contemporaneously to, or investment advisory
decisions made contemporaneously for, similarly situated discretionary clients of Copeland. Thus,
Copeland may have already commenced trading for its discretionary client accounts before the
Sponsor has received or had the opportunity to evaluate or act on Copeland’s recommendations.
In this circumstance, trades ultimately placed by the Sponsor for its clients will be subject to price
movements, particularly with large orders or where the securities are thinly traded, that may result
in Model Program clients receiving prices that are more or less favorable than the prices obtained
by Copeland for its discretionary client accounts. On the other hand, the Model Program Sponsor
may initiate trading based on Copeland’s recommendations before or at the same time Copeland
is also trading for its discretionary client accounts. Particularly with large orders or where the
securities are thinly traded, this could result in Copeland’s discretionary clients receiving prices
that are less favorable than prices that might otherwise have been obtained absent a Model Program
Sponsor’s trading activity. Because Copeland does not control the Sponsor’s execution of
transactions for the Sponsor’s client accounts, Copeland cannot control the market impact of such
transactions to the same extent that it would for its discretionary client accounts.
Where Copeland participates in Model Programs, the Model Program Sponsor is responsible for
investment decisions and performing many other services and functions typically handled by
Copeland in a traditional discretionary managed account program. Depending on the facts and
circumstances, Copeland may or may not have an advisory relationship with model-based program
clients. To the extent that this Form ADV Part 2A is delivered to program clients with whom
Copeland has no advisory relationship, or under circumstances where it is not legally required to
be delivered, it is provided for informational purposes only. Furthermore, because a Model
Program Sponsor generally exercises investment discretion and, in many cases, brokerage
discretion, performance and other information relating to Copeland’s services for which it
exercises investment and/or brokerage discretion is generally provided for informational purposes
only and may not be representative of model-based program client results or experience. Copeland
is not responsible for overseeing the provision of services by a Model Program Sponsor and cannot
assure the quality of its services.
Multi-Asset Manager Strategies
Copeland does not offer or provide customized portfolios to Model Program participants.
However, on occasion Copeland may offer or provide to certain multi-asset managers customized
analysis, portfolio development and investment management services focused on achieving
specific strategy objectives. The customized multi-asset strategy draws from Copeland’s Small
cap, Smid cap, Large cap and International investment opportunities, using our domestic and
international research coverage. The custom strategies focus on strategic and tactical asset
allocation and fundamental security selection. Potential conflicts of interest can arise because
favorable portfolio decisions regarding the custom strategy may benefit these client(s) over other
clients. To overcome these conflicts, Copeland will devote as much time to each investment
strategy, investment product or advisory account as Copeland deems appropriate to perform its
duties in accordance with its management agreements and fiduciary duties.