OMERS Infrastructure Grows Strategic Partnership Program to Over C$6.6 Billion
OMERS has secured an additional C$525m (€356m) via its Strategic Partnership Program (SPP), which allows third-party investors to co-invest alongside the Canadian pension fund.
The capital raised will be invested in OMERS Infrastructure portfolio companies Waveconn, an Australian telecommunications infrastructure firm, and US chassis provider Direct ChassisLink.
OMERS Infrastructure, a subsidiary of the defined benefit pension plan for municipal employees in Ontario, retains a majority stake in both companies.
The additional co-investment capital, secured from various unnamed new and existing investors, has increased the size of SPP to more than C$6.6bn, comprising 18 strategic co-investors on 13 investments.
Last year, Irini Kalamakis, senior managing director and global head of strategic partnerships, was hired from IFM Investors to lead the third-party investor programme.
Kalamakis said: “Despite a challenging capital environment, we have successfully closed two of our largest ever co-investments – a true testament to the strength of our relationships with our strategic partners, the attractiveness of our platform and the caliber of talent that invests in and manages our assets.”
Earlier today, OMERS Infrastructure put out a press release stating it has reached its target for two co-investments, growing third-party capital program to over C$6.6bn:
Closes add C$525m to the Strategic Partnership Program
Four Strategic Partners added, taking the number to 18 in total
2023 marks OMERS Infrastructure’s 10-year anniversary of managing capital on behalf of third-parties
(6 September 2023) – OMERS Infrastructure has today announced that it has reached its target raise for two co-investment processes as part of its global third-party capital platform, the Strategic Partnership Program (‘SPP’). In its 10-year history of managing third-party capital, OMERS Infrastructure has successfully partnered with 18 strategic co-investors on 13 investments. With the completion of these most recent processes, invested capital in SPP grew by C$525m to over C$6.6bn.
The co-investment processes involved two OMERS Infrastructure portfolio companies: Waveconn (a specialist developer, operator, and investor in the telecommunications infrastructure in Australia), and Direct ChassisLink Inc. (one of the largest chassis providers in the United States). In each case, OMERS retained the majority of its equity interest for its balance sheet, to ensure meaningful alignment with its co-investors. Both processes reached final close in Q2 2023.
Irini Kalamakis, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, OMERS Infrastructure, said: “Despite a challenging capital environment, we have successfully closed two of our largest ever co-investments – a true testament to the strength of our relationships with our Strategic Partners, the attractiveness of our platform and the caliber of talent that invests in and manages our assets.”
The Waveconn and DCLI processes include commitments from a number of new and existing Strategic Partners. Individual investor names and commitment sizes are not being disclosed by OMERS Infrastructure.
Irini Kalamakis added: “Our Strategic Partners are a select group of global like-minded institutions whose investment objectives align with OMERS, and who seek to access the OMERS Infrastructure platform to selectively expand their portfolios. We are delighted they have entrusted us to manage their investments in each of these world-class portfolio companies.”
Let me begin by congratulating OMERS Infrastructure for securing C$525m in its global third-party capital platform, the Strategic Partnership Program (‘SPP’), which now manages over C$6.6bn in assets.
Irini Kalamakis, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at OMERS Infrastructure was hired last year to bolster the relationships and assets of SPP and she has done a great job so far.
Unlike other large Canadian pension investment managers, OMERS manages third-party assets offering like-minded investors access to their infrastructure, private equity and real estate assets through strategic co-investments.
As stated above, in its 10-year history of managing third-party capital, OMERS Infrastructure has successfully partnered with 18 strategic co-investors on 13 investments.
These co-investments allow OMERS to ramp up its portfolio as it increases its assets under management.
The latest co-investment processes involved two OMERS Infrastructure portfolio companies: Waveconn (a specialist developer, operator, and investor in the telecommunications infrastructure in Australia), and Direct ChassisLink Inc. (one of the largest chassis providers in the United States).
In each case, OMERS retained the majority of its equity interest for its balance sheet, to ensure meaningful alignment with its co-investors.
OMERS recently appointed CPP Investments executive Michael Hill as its new head of Infrastructure and he understands very well the significance of these strategic partnerships.
In order for OMERS to grow its infrastructure portfolio over the next five to ten years, it needs to have strategic co-investors which can invest alongside it on large transactions.
Michael was just named head of OMERS Infrastructure and he needs time to develop his own strategy and how he will grow this portfolio over time.
Still, I don't see the Strategic Partnership Program going away, it will only get bigger over time.
In other related news, Benefits Canada reports OMERS Ventures is appointing Michael Yang as managing partner, head of ventures:
The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System venture capital arm is appointing Michael Yang as managing partner and head of ventures.
Yang joined OMERS Ventures in 2019 to launch its Silicon Valley office and more recently took on the role of leading ventures efforts across North America. In the new role, he’ll be responsible for leading OMERS Ventures’ investments and fund operations, while providing strategic oversight to the business.
He succeeds Damien Steel, who stepped down from the role to become chief executive officer of OMERS-backed green technology company Deep Sky Corp. Steel will remain a senior advisor to OMERS Ventures.
A couple of weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that OMERS Ventures was calling it quits in Europe just four years after opening a London office, hiring a team and setting aside $332 million to invest in the region.
At the outset, it may seem as if the lackluster state of the European venture market may have motivated the exit, but according to TechCrunch, it appears that wasn’t the case. Instead, OMERS’ exit was rather due to logistics related to being a solo LP operation.
Whatever the case, I think it was a good move to exit European VC market and think Michael Yang and his team should exclusively focus on North American opportunities for now.
Alright, that's pretty much it from me, don't have much else to discuss today.
Below, Standard Chartered spoke to industry leaders at Ecosperity on the role that private capital plays in sustainable infrastructure and net zero cities.
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