Alberta Investment Management Corp. surpassed $200 billion in assets under management with a 7.1 per cent net investment return in the first half of the year marked by conflict in the Middle East, U.S. trade policy uncertainty and evolving inflation expectations.
The provincial Crown corporation that invests on behalf of pensions, endowments and government funds had $210.7 billion in assets under management as of June 30.
Chief investment officer Justin Lord said the trade situation and other geopolitical and macroeconomic developments are front and centre for the globally invested fund, which has a strong presence in North America. About 40 per cent of AIMCo’s assets are invested in Canada.
“A prolonged dispute, whether it’s in the Middle East (or) whether it’s trade-related, certainly could create headwinds for the Canadian economy, for the equity market ,” he said. “And that’s something we’re monitoring closely.”
Public equities were the strongest contributor to AIMCo’s performance in the first half of the year, benefiting from resilient corporate earnings and continued strength in AI-related sectors and global equity markets. The results were moderated, however, by private equity , where there was lower transaction activity and valuation pressure in software-related investments.
“Private equity, perhaps even more so today, is playing a vital role in diversification across our equity exposures,” Lord said.
“A number of of equity markets, be it global or emerging markets , are really reliant on a couple of very similar underlying themes with respect to where we’re seeing earnings growth and price appreciation contributing to that strong performance,” he added.
AIMCo’s private equity program is focused on fund and co-investment, and Lord said the team is seeing a number of opportunities that align with the fund’s strategy, as well as an increase in secondary deal flow.
Public equities and absolute return strategies make up the bulk of AIMCo’s portfolio, at 38 per cent. The balance is split between private markets and money market and fixed income.
Lord said he plans to connect next month with “peers” and “partners” attending the Canada Investment Summit on Sept. 14 and 15, a conference convened by Prime Minister Carney that has a guest list of large global investment funds.
“We do have a significant amount of our assets invested here across a number of different asset classes and, should compelling opportunities arise, we’d be happy to … underwrite those transactions, much like we would in any other jurisdiction,” he said.
Lord said there are no hard targets or caps on AIMCo’s investments in Canada.
“We have a strong interest in seeing, obviously, a competitive and attractive investment environment here in our own backyard,” he said, “but we do invest globally on behalf of our clients and … ultimately, our responsibility is to deliver that long-term return for clients, and that means investing where we see the best opportunity to create value over time.”
AIMCo reports the long-term investment performance of its balanced fund, which is a composite of client accounts with mandates that allow AIMCo to combine asset allocation and active investment management to seek higher returns.
Over four years, the balanced fund’s net annualized rate of return is 9.9 per cent. Over 10 years, the return is 7.8 per cent. The balanced fund’s net investment return was $13.6 billion in the first half of this year and $89.1 billion over 10 years.
• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com
AIMCo assets top $200 billion as public equities drive gains
2026-08-27 17:23:17
