Pension Pulse

Jeffery Jones of the Globe and Mail reports fossil fuel divestment not on the agenda for AIMCo, CEO Evan Siddall says: Alberta’s public investment manager is not making a net-zero commitment, and selling off fossil-fuel producers is out of the question. Instead, it will concentrate on investing alongside portfolio companies to decarbonize, its chief executive officer says. Alberta Investment Management Corp. will unveil a “transition finance” strategy in the coming months that will spell out its plans for investing in a lower-carbon economy on behalf of several pension plans and public accounts in the province. Unlike the case with some institutional investors, divestment from fossil fuels – still Alberta’s dominant industry – won’t be on the agenda. For Edmonton-based AIMCo, concentrating on a specific net-zero goal would be a distraction from what’s needed to balance energy supply and emission reduction, CEO Evan Siddall said. He believes in the concept but ...

Colin Lodewick of Fortune reports Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio says the stock market has further to fall before a recession hits: For much of this year, the Fed has held steadfast to its goal of a “soft landing” for inflation, the idea of vanquishing inflation without a dramatic economic downturn. But despite several interest rate hikes, inflation is still running hot , and business leaders are saying that it’s not a matter of if a recession will happen, but when. On Wednesday, after another rate hike, and a promise from Fed chairman Jerome Powell to stay the course until inflation comes down, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio said that the Federal Reserve will probably keep tightening its monetary policy until high prices come down, no matter the consequences . As a result, a recession is likely within the next year. “You’re starting to see all the classic early signs,” he said during an interview with MarketWatch editor-in-chief Mark DeCambre during the outlet’s inaugural Best...

The Investor Leadership Network (ILN) released a Net Zero Investor Playbook which offers an inventory of approaches institutional investors are taking to transition investing and highlights key challenges: TORONTO | Sept. 21, 2022 –– The Investor Leadership Network (ILN) launched today a new resource to provide practical assistance to investors and their stakeholders to operationalize their net zero commitments. Created with the support of KPMG LLP, the Net Zero Investor Playbook inventories institutional investors’ current approaches to and highlights the complexity of climate transition investing. Global organizations have developed a wide range of net zero frameworks, methodologies and tools to help investors design and implement their net zero transition programs. The continuously expanding collection of resources and concurrent advances in underlying climate models, however, have caused some confusion on how best to position portfolios and engage with portfolio compa...

BCI announced it has made a significant investment in Authority Brands: COLUMBIA, MD and VICTORIA, British Columbia – September 20, 2022 – Authority Brands, a residential services franchising platform in North America, today announced that British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”), one of the largest institutional investors in Canada, has agreed to acquire a significant minority stake in the company, alongside funds advised by Apax Partners LLP (“Apax Funds”), which will retain majority ownership. Authority Brands is the premier home service franchisor in North America. Its family of home service franchise brands are leaders in their industry, providing homeowners with services from the property line to the roof line. Authority Brands’ companies include 12 leading home service franchisors: America’s Swimming Pool Company, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing, The Cleaning Authority, Color World Painting, DoodyCalls, Homewatch CareGivers, Mister Sparky, Monster Tr...