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Pensions

AIMCo Achieves 12.3% Return in 2024

The Alberta pension manager, with assets rising to $127.7 billion by the end of the year, endured a leadership change forced by the provincial government last November.
By Matt Toledo



The Alberta Investment Management Co., an entity which invests for multiple pension funds, endowments, government and insurance funds in Canada’s province of Alberta, announced a 12.3% total fund return for 2024, slightly underperforming its benchmark by eight basis points. 

Assets of the fund rose to C$179.8 billion ($127.71 billion) at the end of 2024, rising by C$15.1 billion over the previous year. 

Equities, unsurprisingly, were the fund’s best-performing assets. The asset class returned 24.7%, followed by infrastructure (12.0%), private equity (11.8%), money market and fixed income (4.6%) and renewable resources (1.9%). Real estate had a 2% loss.

The fund announced annualized four- and 10-year returns of 7.4% and 6.9%, respectively.

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The returns mostly came under previous leadership, as a November 2024 reshuffle of AIMCo leadership and priorities saw the government of Alberta push out longtime AIMCo CEO Evan Siddall and fire multiple senior staffers and the fund’s board, over complaints of rising fees.

Ray Gilmour remains the interim CEO, while former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now the board’s chairman. Since the shuffle, the fund has closed its offices in New York City and Singapore, reversing a trend of global expansion under Siddall. The fund still has offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, London and Luxembourg.

Related Stories:

Alberta Names Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as AIMCo Board Chair

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Alberta Government Fires AIMCo Board, CEO

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Home > News > Pensions > Qantas Super, ART Make Merger Official
Pensions

Qantas Super, ART Make Merger Official

The tie-up is expected to provide lower fees to members of the new Qantas Group Super Plan in ART.
By Karren Vergara




Qantas Super, the retirement plan founded in 1939 to benefit employees of the transportation company Qantas, has completed its merger with Australian Retirement Trust.

On March 29, about 25,000 Qantas members, with A$9 billion ($5.71 billion) in funds under management, moved to ART.

“It has been our profound privilege and honor to serve our current members and the tens of thousands of former Qantas employees who have previously been members,” Qantas Super Chief Executive Michael Clancy said in a statement.

ART had nearly 2.5 million member accounts and A$310.2 billion ($196.8 billion) in FUM at the end of June 2024, according to statistics from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

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“As we pass the baton to ART, it is the close of this present chapter in the fund’s history and the beginning of another—with the establishment of the Qantas Group Super Plan in ART,” Clancy wrote on LinkedIn. “Although this is a bittersweet moment for the Qantas Super team, I am super confident that merging Qantas Super into ART is in the best financial interests of our members.”

Qantas Super announced it was exploring merger options in September 2023 and that it had entered into an agreement to merge with ART in July 2024.

“Qantas Super was founded in 1939 to provide retirement benefits to Qantas Group employees,” Clancy wrote. “In the 86 years since, we’ve been delivering on that commitment: through the turmoil of World War II, economic highs and lows, the technological change of the 21st century and everything in between.”

Most Qantas Super members will benefit from lower administration and investment fees in the Qantas Group Super Plan in ART. For example, ART’s annual fixed administration fee for the Qantas Group Super Plan is currently A$52 per year, compared with Qantas Super’s A$70.

The annual asset-based administration fee will drop to 0.05% in ART from 0.23% in Qantas Super.

This originally appeared in our sister publication, Financial Standard, which, like CIO, is owned by ISS STOXX.

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