Pension Pulse

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports Alberta appoints former prime minister Stephen Harper to chair AIMCo board: Alberta’s government appointed former prime minister Stephen Harper as chairman of the province’s $169-billion public-sector pension fund manager and added a senior government official to its board, signalling a shift in governance at Alberta Investment Management Corp. and raising questions about its independence. Mr. Harper is taking the chairman’s role unpaid as part of a revamped board of directors after Alberta’s government dismissed AIMCo’s entire 10-member board and four senior leaders , including its chief executive officer, two weeks ago. The province also added the deputy minister of Treasury Board and Finance – a high-ranking public servant – as a permanent member of the board, also without pay. That restores a board seat the deputy minister held at AIMCo’s inception in 2008, which was removed a year later Three other former AIMCo directors, w

Swetha Gopinath of Bloomberg reports Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to co-own financial advisor Max Matthiessen: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) agreed to acquire a co-control stake in Stockholm-based financial advisor Max Matthiessen from private equity firm Nordic Capital Ltd. The Canadian pension fund and Nordic Capital will co-own the business, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News on Wednesday. Nordic Capital acquired Max Matthiessen in 2020 and will re-invest via Nordic Capital XI, following the exit of its initial investment through an earlier fund. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal values Max Matthiessen at about €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) including debt, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. “We have seen the company grow tremendously over the past four years and some assets are just too good to let go off, so we took the opportunity to re-invest and stay in control along w