Yahoo Finance AIMCo CEO signals interest in Ottawa's latest bid for private capital to back green projects
Evan Siddall, chief executive of Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo), said the pension giant is interested in participating in the Canada Growth Fund, a new public-private investment vehicle to be seeded by Ottawa with $15 billion that targets innovative companies and green projects deemed too risky by private capital.
“We’ve had conversations with the Department of Finance. We would very much like to be involved with the Canada Growth Fund,” Siddall said in an interview from Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where he is attending COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The federal government is prepared to accept a lower return or increase its potential loss exposure on companies in the fund in order to stimulate additional investments from institutions including pensions and private equity, according to details provided in last week’s fall economic update.
The apparent vote of confidence from AIMCo would be welcome for the federal government, which has made several efforts to drive more private capital into companies and projects, including those that aim to create Canadian jobs, drive innovation and help the transition to a lower-carbon economy.
A document prepared for the fall economic statement said the fund plans to source some investments by piggybacking on the deal pipelines of private funds. In addition, the fund will identify companies and projects and, if possible, bring together multiple financial and strategic partners.
Targets will include businesses and projects that reduce emissions or accelerate the deployment of key transition technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization and storage.
The fund will aim to help scale-up companies that drive productivity, focus on clean growth and encourage the retention of Canadian intellectual property. Further priorities will be capitalizing on natural resources, including critical minerals, and strengthening critical supply chains.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said investments could include industries and infrastructure from critical minerals to ports.
Siddall said he attended this week’s climate change conference in Egypt — and planned a follow-up trip to Singapore — to connect with other global investors and governments to explore potential partnerships in transition finance that target carbon reduction.
“We’re actively looking at ways of investing in the transition of our economy to a low-carbon future,” Siddall said, adding that global partnerships are likely to play a role in AIMCo moving beyond recent investments in green infrastructure, renewables and clean energy storage.
A Crown corporation that invests for pensions and endowments in Alberta, AIMCo has steadfastly rejected a divestment strategy favoured by some institutional investors such as the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec. Last year, the Caisse said it planned to divest all oil-producing assets by the end of this year.
Siddall and AIMCo chair Mark Wiseman have said being based in an energy-rich province gives the fund access to growing local transition expertise, and a Calgary office was opened last month to build on that “unique home-field advantage in areas such transition finance.”
AIMCo, which had $136.6 billion in assets under management at the end of June, also has offices in Toronto, London and Luxembourg, and Siddall said the board of directors is weighing the possibility of one or two more offices, with potential locations in Singapore and New York.
“We have not yet made that decision – we are investigating them both,” he said.
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