Alberta government fires AIMCo board, cites poor performance

Alberta’s finance minister has sacked the board of directors of AIMCo, which manages pension and other funds for the province and handles more than $160 billion in assets

Finance Minister Nate Horner said in a statement Thursday that the move is due to rising management fees coupled with a consistent failure to meet mandated benchmark returns.

Horner said the decision takes effect immediately and he will be sole director and chair for AIMCo until a new chair is appointed within 30 days, with a new board established after that.

Horner says it’s time to reset the investment corporation’s focus.

“AIMCo’s work has direct consequences for Albertans,” Horner said.

“While they have achieved returns for their clients, we are acting to bring a renewed focus on the best possible returns and low operating costs.”

The province said that from 2019 to 2023, AIMCo’s third-party management fees have increased by 96 per cent, the number of employees increased by 29 per cent and wage and benefit costs increased by 71 per cent.

These costs all increased, it said, while AIMCo managed a smaller percentage of funds internally.

AIMCo, it its latest annual report, said it had $161 billion of assets under management as of the end of last year, with 600 employees spread across offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Luxembourg and London, U.K.

It said it handles about $118 billion in investments for public sector pension plans representing thousands of Albertans.

It has weathered controversy. In the spring of 2020, the pension fund manager took a $4-billion dollar loss on the $110 billion it managed.

AIMCo officials at the time said the loss was a result of COVID-19-related market swings and an ensuing oil price war.

Then-premier Jason Kenney defended the fund managers, saying at the time that the loss was a “fraction” of what was seen elsewhere.