AIMCo opens first Asia office in Singapore, remains leery of China
CALGARY — Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) is opening its first Asian office, but the Edmonton-based fund manager says it will steer well clear of China to focus instead on markets with less geopolitical risk.
The official opening Sept. 11 of AIMCo’s new Singapore office marks the first foray into the Asia-Pacific region for what is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, with $158 billion of assets under management as of 2022.
Chief executive Evan Siddall said AIMCo, which invests on behalf of 17 pension, endowment and government fund clients in Alberta and manages more than 30 pools of capital, has up until recently been missing out on some of the investment opportunities that exist within the large, fast-growing economies of the Asian continent.
“We really are very under-represented in Asia. You know, we have less (investment) in Asia than we do in Alberta,” Siddall said.
“I don’t want to look in the rear-view mirror, but we’ve missed opportunities for sure.”
Siddall said the Singapore office opening is part of a larger push by AIMCo towards greater diversification globally. The fund manager — which invests in public and private markets, real estate and infrastructure — already has offices in Calgary, Toronto, London and Luxembourg, in addition to Edmonton, and will be opening a New York City office soon.
But Siddall said Asia is important, as many countries there have economic growth that’s outstripping that of the U.S and Europe.
“In many of them, we just don’t have any experience. But on a risk-adjusted basis, we think we can and we should do more (in Asia),” he said.
“We have no rule of thumb, we have no target … but it’s more than we’re doing now, and it’s a fair bit more.”
AIMCo is lagging
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