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BCI is pleased to announce that Peter Milburn has been reappointed as Chair of BCI’s Board of Directors by the Honourable Brenda Bailey, Minister of Finance for British Columbia.

The reappointment extends Peter’s term to December 31, 2026.

“I am honoured to continue to serve as BCI’s Board Chair. During my tenure, I have had the privilege to be part of BCI’s transformation into a $295 billion global asset manager designed to deliver long-term, sustainable value for our clients,” said Peter. “I am also grateful for the trust our clients continue to place in us, as well as the dedication of BCI’s leadership and employees. In an ever-changing world, the Board and I remain committed to the strong governance and client service that has defined BCI for more than 25 years.”

Peter was first appointed as Chair in 2016. He previously served as the provincial Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Board. He built his career within the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and retired after 33 years serving in various roles including Deputy Minister, Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Project Director for the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project. Peter holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

About the BCI Board of Directors

BCI’s Board is structured in accordance with the Public Sector Pension Plans Act. BCI’s four largest pension plan clients each appoint a member from their Board of Trustees, with the Minister of Finance appointing the Chair and two Directors to comprise a seven-member Board.

Peter’s full biography and additional information about BCI’s Board of Directors can be found at BCI.ca/governance.

Every decision, innovation, and advantage in today’s fast-moving investment landscape is underpinned by data – even the most cutting-edge AI tools are only as powerful as the data beneath them.     

That’s why at BCI our Data & Analytics (D&A) team is a strategic partner: embedding expertise directly into the business, scaling AI capabilities, and empowering our world-class talent with data-backed insights.  

Jennifer Hartfield, Senior Vice President, Corporate Data & Operations, shares how data and analytics at BCI goes beyond foundational infrastructure to create competitive advantage. 

Q: As a global investor, how does BCI think about data and analytics?  

JH: We see data and analytics as both a backbone and a strategic asset. BCI is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, managing more than $300 billion in AUM on behalf of our clients – about 85% of that asset management is done in-house. The scale and complexity of what we do, from global operations to executing multi-billion-dollar deals, means we manage incredible volumes of data. Our ability to transform that data into something useful so we can act with agility and create value from within isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s critical to delivering on our ambitions.  

Our D&A team supports day-to-day decision making across BCI by delivering accessible, high-quality data and insights. That’s the foundational piece, but the real edge comes when data and analytics are leveraged as an enabler and strategic tool to find opportunities others might miss. When you get governance and infrastructure right, it positions you to do more with your data, and that’s when it becomes a competitive advantage. We’ve structured our D&A team to lean into and accelerate those value-add opportunities.  

Q: You’ve embedded data expertise directly into the business. Why this approach, and how do you stay aligned while working across such diverse asset classes? 

JH: When the D&A team was fully centralized, they were stretched across BCI – addressing needs on a reactive basis with few opportunities for project continuity and relationship building. Now, we operate in a “pod model” that combines deep business partnerships with the power of unified, enterprise-wide governance and oversight.  

We’ve assigned dedicated data experts for each asset class – Private Equity, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources, and Capital Markets & Credit Investments – that work alongside the teams and can dive into their unique context, challenges, and goals. With the nuances and highly skilled nature of investing, this approach has been a game-changer in scaling our impact and working collaboratively to find the biggest wins. Importantly, while our experts are where the business needs them, we still have a central team that stitches everything together, facilitates knowledge sharing, and manages our central Enterprise Data Platform.  

The pod model helps us build trust and deliver tailored solutions without falling into siloed thinking or missing opportunities that benefit the entire organization. It’s also allowed us to expand our impact, particularly on the value creation side. Recently, our D&A experts collaborated with the Private Equity team to help one of BCI’s portfolio companies build a scheduling optimization model, lowering labour costs and delivering direct business outcomes.  

Q: BCI has been an early adopter of AI. How does the D&A team help the organization move beyond individual applications to create enterprise-level solutions? 

JH: It’s exciting to see AI experimentation happening across BCI. Our Technology team is making AI tools widely accessible for people at every level to take advantage, and we’re already seeing numerous innovative use cases and incremental benefits. 

The D&A team is focused on tackling strategic projects that will drive repeatable, organization-wide improvements – so we don’t only have one-off wins. We help to scale solutions by supporting reliable data, creating proper governance, and building trust in the outputs. This ensures that AI is a dependable partner as it becomes more formally integrated into our work.  

A good example is the AI-powered model we developed for private equity that extracts key data from unstructured sources like PDFs, which has historically been a challenge. The broader investment team can now access high-quality, consistent, and filterable datasets at scale, eliminating the need for manual reviews and refocusing that time on high-value work like analysis and decision making.   

Q: This space is evolving quickly. What’s next for the team, and how will you define success in the coming years? 

JH: We expect automation and AI will continue to streamline basic foundational tasks so the D&A team can spend even more time delivering advanced capabilities and insights that drive business advantage. One of BCI’s strategic ambitions is to accelerate innovation across the organization and we see ourselves as a key enabler of this – unlocking possibilities and turning ideas into reality.  

At a higher level, the best indicator of our success is continuing to enable a culture where using data and analytics is second nature for everyone. BCI has world-class talent, and we want to make it easy for people to combine their expert judgment with data-backed insights to deliver better investment outcomes for our clients and the people they serve. We’re driven by purpose and know that every deeper insight, sharper decision, and efficiency gain we enable ultimately benefits British Columbia and beyond. It’s truly investing that matters.  

Daniel Garant, Executive Vice President & Global Head of Capital Markets & Credit Investments, recently participated in CFA Montreal’s webinar “Should Investors Worry About Market Concentration?” 

When investors ask whether they should worry about market concentration, they may be missing a bigger challenge: how do you build portfolios when a handful of companies dominate public equity benchmarks? 

From left to right: Stephen Hui (Moderator, Pembroke); Owen Lamont (Acadian); Daniel Garant (BCI).

Today’s market concentration landscape  

The S&P 500’s top 10 holdings now represent roughly 40% of the index, up from nearly 19% in 2010.¹ Technology giants drive this concentration — the so-called Magnificent Seven: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.  

This could create real portfolio construction challenges for some investors. When benchmark allocations tilt heavily toward similar names, in this case technology, active stock selection becomes difficult and passive investors find themselves with significant exposure to a handful of companies.  

Some investors draw parallels to the 1990’s/2000’s dot-com era, yet the fundamentals tell a different story. At the time, the S&P 500 index included several overvalued tech companies with speculative business models. These companies traded at high valuations with minimal earnings, valuing potential rather than actual profitability. Pets.com, the poster child of dot-com excess, raised US$82.5 million in its February 2000 IPO but filed for bankruptcy by November of the same year. 

Today’s reality differs. The Magnificent Seven generated over $1 trillion² in combined annual revenue in 2024, representing established businesses that make dot-com comparisons inappropriate. Tech stock market leadership only becomes problematic when valuations disconnect from underlying performance.  

AI infrastructure deployment: The timing challenge 

Raising a bigger question for the entire technology sector: when will AI investments deliver expected returns and how long will it take? Companies across the industry are investing heavily in AI infrastructure but not everyone can be a winner.  

Daniel Garant: “My biggest worry is it might take longer and it might cost more. Some of these assumptions about translating revenue into profit are optimistic.” 

Garant’s timing concerns become clearer when examining actual deployment challenges. Physical constraints create unexpected bottlenecks. McKinsey estimates AI demand requires $5.2 trillion in capital expenditure through 2030, translating to adding 156 gigawatts (GW) of AI-related data center demand.³ The challenge then extends beyond building data centers — powering them creates the real timing gap.  

McKinsey identifies a mismatch between data center builds, which can be done in 18 to 24 months, and power infrastructure development, which can take anywhere from three to ten years to complete.⁴ This mismatch means today’s AI infrastructure investments may not be operational until the late 2020s. 

Northern Virginia Reality Check: Data center operators seeking space in Northern Virginia – the United States’ largest data center market – face six to eight years wait times for power generation, revealing capacity constraints even in the most established markets. 

Despite massive capital commitments, the pace of AI adoption and actual economic impacts remain uncertain. Garant expects the winners will be the companies that can execute, rather than just announce investments. 

How BCI addresses concentration risks through portfolio construction 

For BCI, the concentration discussion underscored a challenge with public equity benchmarks. Garant explained how the quality of public equity benchmarks has deteriorated. Over the past 15 years, private equity firms have increasingly acquired troubled public companies. Improved growth of these delisted companies occurs outside of public markets, leading to benchmark degradation across multiple sectors, not just technology. This has changed the risk-return profile available to public equity investors. 

Our approach emphasizes robust portfolio construction across asset classes, geographies, and risk factors rather than attempting to solve concentration through individual stock selection alone.  

With strong funded ratios, clients have reduced overall public equity allocations from approximately 50% five years ago to 25% today. To align with this shift in client allocation, BCI has identified opportunities in areas such as private debt.  

Building a winning strategy: BCI’s private debt program launched in 2018 and has become a portfolio cornerstone for our clients. Dive deeper into Garant’s insights on the strategy and asset class evolution with Top1000Funds here.   

Key takeaways  

The AI transformation is real and permanent. Companies are investing heavily in AI to improve productivity, decision-making, and operational efficiency. Yet not all AI investments will deliver proportional returns. 

The next five years will test which institutional investors can adapt fastest. AI deployment realities will separate winners from losers, while private markets will likely continue to absorb growth opportunities. Success will depend less on predicting market concentration and more on positioning portfolios where value creation can occur. 

While market concentration dominates the investment landscape, BCI is focused on: 

• Multi-factor analysis: BCI analyzes various factors, such as data center capacity gaps to factor into decision making  

• Staying ahead of market changes: BCI’s total portfolio approach adapts to market changes demonstrated by our move into other strategies such as private debt and investment grade private debt.    

• Investing with purpose: BCI invests where returns make sense for clients. Our mandate is simple: generate returns for our clients. 

References 

¹ Source: Bloomberg. S&P 500 Index data as of November 13, 2010, and November 13, 2025. 

² Source: Bloomberg. USD sales revenue data as of December 31, 2024. 

³ https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-cost-of-compute-a-7-trillion-dollar-race-to-scale-data-centers  

⁴ https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-a-data-center  

Joint initiative reinforces British Columbia as a hub for quantum innovation in Canada 

VICTORIA, BC – November 17, 2025 – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, and the Quantum Algorithms Institute (QAI), a non-profit organization supporting adoption of quantum technologies in British Columbia, today announced a joint initiative to advance post-quantum readiness.  

“Working with QAI gives us access to world-class quantum expertise as we prepare for the risks and opportunities ahead,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at BCI. “Quantum computing will impact how investors around the world protect systems and approach complex investment scenarios. We are positioning BCI to leverage this technology for business advantage as it becomes more widely available.” 

Together, BCI and QAI will work to identify quantum investment applications for portfolio optimization, risk assessment, and financial modeling, while implementing post-quantum security standards to support BCI’s long-term operational resilience. QAI will use the insights gained through this hands-on experience to support quantum preparedness across British Columbia and Canada’s business ecosystems.  

“With quantum computers expected to be commercially viable within three to five years, this collaboration will offer critical learnings that extend beyond BCI,” said Louise Turner, Chief Executive Officer of QAI. “We’re developing playbooks and use cases that can help other organizations – from governments to small businesses – build their own quantum readiness.” 

BCI’s quantum experience extends beyond operations to its global portfolio. This includes investments like Photonic Inc., a British Columbia-based quantum computing company backed since 2021, which offered early insight into the technology’s evolution and commercial potential. The joint initiative with QAI builds on this strong foundation and BCI’s broader commitment to accelerating innovation.  

Guidance to foster effective corporate governance that supports long-term value creation 

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, with C$295 billion in gross assets under management. For 25 years, BCI has actively exercised its ownership rights to safeguard and enhance long-term value for its clients. 

In addition to proxy voting and direct and collaborative engagement with companies, we attend select Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to hear directly from corporate boards and management and to communicate our expectations. In 2025, BCI participated in AGMs across Asia and Canada, submitting questions and supporting collaborative statements. We believe AGMs are a critical forum for investor dialogue and holding board directors accountable for overseeing the company, making the chosen format a significant consideration in facilitating quality engagement. 

This article outlines our expectations and provides practical guidance for hybrid AGMs. We encourage public companies to proactively adopt these practices and to view investor participation in AGMs as an opportunity for constructive dialogue and partnership that supports long-term, sustainable growth. 

Learn more about how BCI leverages AGMs in our 2024-2025 Stewardship Report 

Global trends: The hybrid movement

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted in-person AGMs globally, prompting a rapid shift toward virtual and hybrid formats.  

In recognition of the need for clear standards during this shift, BCI participated in the 2020 Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Practices for Virtual Shareholder Meetings, which developed practical guidance to help companies replicate meaningful shareholder engagement in these new formats.² Today, regulators, companies, and investors have gained valuable experience from this transition, leading to a clearer understanding of best practices for AGMs. 

Recent industry surveys indicate that hybrid AGMs account for approximately 40% of shareholder meetings worldwide, reflecting a record level of global adoption.³ Australia, for example, stands out as a leader with about 60% of AGMs held in hybrid format between 2021 and 2023.¹

Starting in January 2027, hybrid AGMs will be mandated for South Korean companies with assets exceeding KRW 2 trillion – part of the broader corporate governance reforms to address the country’s long-standing valuation discount. This legal requirement sets a new regional benchmark for modern AGM practices. 

Considering these developments, companies are encouraged to proactively adopt hybrid AGMs as a best governance practice. The hybrid format improves accessibility, strengthens shareholder communication, and supports long-term value creation through enhanced transparency and engagement. 

Making the case: The business value of hybrid AGMs 

Hybrid AGMs provide investors with greater access to exercise their ownership rights. Broader access and participation can benefit companies by: 

1. Facilitating informed business strategies: Broader investor participation enables company leadership to receive a diverse spectrum of feedback, promoting better identification of risks and opportunities and contributing to robust strategy development.  
2. Enhancing transparency and shareholder engagement: Hybrid formats demonstrate responsiveness to shareholders, which may improve market perception and strengthen investor confidence. This approach can make companies more attractive to both institutional and retail investors. 
3. Supporting long-term value creation: Engaged shareholders are more likely to support value-enhancing decisions and maintain long-term commitment to the company, helping to stabilize the investor base and reduce share price volatility.  
   

Investor expectations: Best practices for hybrid AGMs 

The guiding principle for hybrid meetings is that virtual attendees should have the same opportunities for participation and dialogue as those attending in person.⁴ In-person attendance should remain an option, but it should not be the only means of investor participation.  

 
1. Meeting Access & Voting Treatment 

• Provide clear, detailed instructions⁵ in both proxy circulars and related materials on how to register for the meeting, either in person or virtually, in advance. Offer timely support to shareholders as needed. 

• Disclose the meeting platform early to enable shareholders to familiarize themselves with the technology before the meeting.  

• Clearly explain how shareholders may cast their votes. For example, specify whether virtual attendees can vote electronically in advance and whether they have the option to amend their votes during the meeting. 

2. Q&A Sessions  

• Commit to hosting a Q&A session during the AGM to support accountability and demonstrate board responsiveness. 

3. Virtual Microphones 

• Provide live virtual microphones for remote participants to ask questions verbally, ensuring equal participation and fostering trust. Leading global markets, including the U.K. and Australia,³ have already adopted this practice. 

4. Question Format & Submission 

• If written submissions are required, communicate reasonable character limits clearly and in advance. 

• If a live microphone feature is unavailable, commit to reading full questions aloud and identifying the shareholders submitting the questions. 

• Avoid exclusive reliance on pre-submitted or written-only questions, as doing so can limit participation and may not address real-time discussions or provide adequate context. 

5. Question Transparency & Transcription 

• Ensure all questions submitted during the meeting are visible to participants. This transparency allows shareholders to assess whether concerns are being addressed, fosters understanding of different perspectives within the shareholder base, prevents the impression of cherry-picking questions, and promotes board responsiveness.¹ 

• Transcribe and/or display real-time questions to help shareholders track discussions, avoid repetition, and facilitate smooth meeting management. South Africa provides an example of a system that enables real-time question transparency.¹

6. Presenter Video & Audio  

• Provide real-time video of presenters—including directors and management—alongside presentation slides, rather than audio only, to promote transparency and facilitate meaningful engagement. 

7. Live Translation 

• Provide simultaneous English translation for meetings conducted in other languages to promote inclusivity and ensure understanding across the global shareholder base. 

8. Board & Auditor Attendance¹ 

• Require that all or most board members, as well as the external auditors, attend the AGM. 

• Ensure that the board chair or independent lead director—not the CEO—presides over the meeting to reinforce accountability. 

• Provide shareholders with opportunities to engage directly with external auditors and audit committee members on financial and sustainability disclosure and assurance matters, the latter of which are becoming increasingly significant. 

BCI views hybrid AGMs as the governance standard for the companies in which it invests and encourages the proactive adoption of these best practices. We welcome dialogue with those seeking to enhance shareholder engagement and will continue to advocate for regulatory frameworks that support equal participation rights for all shareholders across global markets. 

Download: Best Practices for Hybrid AGMs (PDF)

Questions or comments about this guidance can be directed to corpgov@bci.ca.
 

Combined company will be one of the largest independent providers of sustainable development data, serving customers representing over US$40 trillion in AUM  

On October 29, 2025, Net Purpose, a data platform for sustainable investors, announced the acquisition of the Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) – the global standard for classification of sustainable development investments founded by British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) alongside APG, AustralianSuper, and PGGM.  

Net Purpose will bring the SDI AOP methodology, data processing, and customer functions in-house, and launch enhanced Sustainable Development Goal classifications. SDI AOP founders will continue to play an active role in shaping the platform’s strategy and methodology, including representation on the Net Purpose Board.   

“This partnership with Net Purpose marks an exciting evolution for SDI AOP,” said Jennifer Coulson, Senior Managing Director & Global Head, ESG at BCI. “As a founding member, BCI has helped support the development of a global standard related to sustainable development investments. Combining forces with Net Purpose allows us to scale these efforts, and we look forward to continuing as part of the Net Purpose Board to maintain the quality and integrity investors depend on.” 

Customers will benefit from a more comprehensive product platform exclusively focused on sustainable and impact investors across asset classes, and a larger team of sustainable investing experts. 

This consolidation of credible standards aligns with BCI’s ongoing efforts to support access to quality, comparable ESG data across global markets – which is integral for investment decision-making. It reinforces BCI’s commitment to responsible investing and advancing solutions that benefit our clients and strengthen the broader investment environment. 

Learn more about the partnership in the Net Purpose news release. 

Sai Devabhaktuni, Senior Managing Director, joins other Private Equity Leaders for a discussion on Portfolio Construction at the 2025 Mergermarket Private Equity Forum 

The private equity playbook is being rewritten and reshaping how investors operate. Longer holding periods, slower exit activity, and changing GP behaviours are driving institutional allocators to rethink traditional approaches. At the recent Mergermarket Private Equity Forum in Austin, industry leaders gathered to discuss how they are evolving portfolio construction in today’s environment. 

Navigating the slower flywheel 

Sai Devabhaktuni, Senior Managing Director at BCI Private Equity, shared how BCI is navigating these market challenges. “The investment – value creation – monetization flywheel is not spinning as fast as it should be.” Put simply, private equity firms are taking longer to exit investments and return capital while simultaneously approaching investors for new fund commitments.  

In response to these extended timelines, BCI has recalibrated its capital deployment and is taking a more deliberate approach on both the timing and the sizing of commitments.  BCI’s disciplined strategy includes being more selective on investments and active portfolio management that carefully weigh risk exposures across holdings. 

Dynamic portfolio management 

At the same time, Devabhaktuni outlined three areas where BCI Private Equity is adapting: 

• Building strategic GP relationships: Moving toward fewer, deeper partnerships while prioritizing managers with strong value creation capabilities, AI adoption, and robust succession planning. As Devabhaktuni explained, “As we’re deploying capital… that capital will be there for an extended period of time, we need to make sure it’s protected and there’s continuity.” That said, BCI remains open to new partnerships: “If an interesting opportunity comes up and there’s a value proposition, we’ll engage. The bar is higher, but we’ll engage.” 

• Implementing broad diversification: The strategy spreads investments across firm sizes, geographies, and capital stack positions to build portfolio stability. “We want to construct a portfolio that is resilient and diverse in terms of the size of private equity firms we engage with—not just large cap but also middle market.” Geographically, the team favors a regional approach, maintaining diversified exposure across markets rather than taking concentrated country-specific positions. 

• Flexible, active portfolio management:  BCI tactically rebalances its exposure as market conditions evolve.  This may include utilizing the secondary markets, altering the risk/reward paradigm by moving up the capital structure or obtaining exposures through continuation vehicles. As it relates to continuation vehicles, BCI takes a case-by-case approach to each opportunity. “There’s no default option from our perspective; everything is bespoke.”  

Looking ahead 

Managing nearly C$34 billion in assets under management through 80+ investment professionals across Victoria, New York, and London, BCI Private Equity reflects how leading investors are adapting to markets with active portfolio management while maintaining a focus on long-term value creation. Current market dynamics will likely persist with evolving distribution patterns—a reality that prompted Sai to note, “It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future.” BCI’s agile approach, characterized by flexible deal structuring and disciplined investing, enhances the firm’s ability to respond to these conditions. 

Watch a recording of the full panel discussion below:  

Mergermarket Private Equity Forum – Austin, October 7, 2025 | Panel: “Institutional investor insights: looking ahead” 

By Florence Chong
Published: September 2025

Canadian pension fund BCI aims to substantially increase the share of European assets in its infrastructure portfolio, as it continues to look abroad for expansion.

British Columbia Investment Management (BCI) is likely to increase its infrastructure investment in Europe by 50% over the next five years, in line with its broader strategy to grow its overall infrastructure portfolio by 60% by 2030.

BCI sees Europe as “a transaction-rich environment” with many nameplate infrastructure assets available for acquisition. It aims to increase the share of European assets to between 25% and 30% of its infrastructure portfolio – up from 21% today.

The firm set the stage for this European expansion with the opening of its London office in 2023. The office, which currently has 10 staff members, is expected to grow as BCI continues to build its investment footprint in the region.

BCI manages the investments of a number of public-sector pension and insurance funds in British Columbia. “As their long-term targets for the asset class continue to increase, we anticipate remaining a very active investor in the market,” says Jerry Divoky, senior managing director of infrastructure and renewable resources at BCI.

Divoky notes that, historically, BCI’s infrastructure programme has delivered strong returns with relatively low risk – it has been designed to deliver stable performance through different market cycles and events.

BCI’s C$32.2bn (€19.8bn) infrastructure portfolio has delivered an approximate 5% yield. “Half of our return over the last decade has effectively come from yield, and the other half from capital appreciation,” Divoky explains. “Significant capital comes back to us as yield, which we can then redeploy.”

The portfolio is primarily comprised of regulated utilities – including gas, power and water – which account for 40% of assets. Renewable resources such as timber and agriculture comprise 20%. Transportation and GDP-sensitive assets and renewable energy each account for 10%, digital/telecommunications 5%, and the balance is allocated to other assets.

At 5%, BCI’s exposure to digital infrastructure remains modest compared with some of its peers. Divoky says: “The anchor in our portfolio has always been core infrastructure – regulated utilities or highly contracted assets. Even though this space has become more competitive, we remain interested.”

Even so, BCI sees strong potential in digital infrastructure. “We remain focused on digital infrastructure opportunities, as many investors are. It is a sector with strong thematic tailwinds,” Divoky says. So far, BCI has mainly participated in digital through the debt markets.

Opportunistic approach

BCI has a wide investment scope and acquires assets opportunistically. In June, it bought a minority stake in Pinnacle Towers, the largest telecom tower platform in the Philippines, from KKR. The acquisition bolstered BCI’s existing telecom tower investment in Altius in partnership with Brookfield. “India is experiencing a tremendous expansion in data and telecommunications,” Divoky says.

Altius combines telecom tower and related infrastructure assets previously held by Summit Digitel, Crest Digitel, and American Tower Corporation’s Indian operations. The latter was acquired last September, giving the partners ownership of 257,000 telecom sites, making it the largest tower portfolio in India and the largest platform globally outside of China.

Divoky also highlights that a repricing in the renewable power sector is creating attractive new investment opportunities that are in focus in North America as well as Europe.

In June, BCI and Macquarie Asset Management acquired Renewi, a European industrial waste recycling business, in a deal valued at £707m (€816m).

“Waste is an area we’ve found quite attractive over the years,” Divoky says. “We just hadn’t found the right kind of business until now. Renewi focuses on commercial and industrial waste and holds a commanding position in Belgium and the Netherlands.”

BCI generally pursues a buy-and-hold strategy but will occasionally make strategic exits. One such divestment was its sale of US assets owned by Global Container Terminals (CGT). “We didn’t feel we could manage terminals on both coasts of the US effectively or generate significant synergies,” says Divoky. BCI, which co-owns GCT with IFM Investors and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is now focused on terminals in Vancouver.

Regarding trade tensions, Divoky remains unfazed: “So far, we’ve experienced strong trade volumes. Negotiations are ongoing and will eventually settle. If there is any shift in trade-related infrastructure, it will happen over decades.”

Already, 90% of BCI’s infrastructure assets are located outside of Canada. Given the limited size of the domestic market, Divoky expects international assets to remain the main driver of growth.

Privatisation potential

There is, however, a potential shift on the horizon. Under the Liberal government led by Mark Carney, Canada is exploring private capital participation in infrastructure to address budgetary challenges.

“But investable opportunities in Canada for large-scale brownfield operating infrastructure are relatively modest,” Divoky says. “We hope that changes going forward. Canada’s Federal Government and Provinces still own airports and most utilities. There’s tremendous potential for the government to privatise these assets, realise capital, and reinvest in greenfield projects that support GDP growth.”

Divoky adds that BCI has deployed capital effectively in the US over the years. “We’re still very interested in the US market, but with the current geopolitical climate, we’re being a bit more cautious,” he says.

“We’d also like to deploy more capital in Australia but, as with Canada, quality opportunities are scarce. Beyond that, India has tremendous promise,” he says. Significantly, it is another market where BCI has on-the-ground representation. So far, the Philippines is the other market where it has invested.

Approximately 10% of the firm’s infrastructure portfolio is in Latin America, but political instability has prompted BCI to exercise “caution” on new investments.

Asked whether global geopolitical tensions have impeded investment, Divoky says that the opposite is the case: “The uncertainty is creating pricing opportunities. Assets aren’t being priced for perfection. We’re mindful of geopolitics, political risks and the potential for populism when deploying capital.”

With a growing global pool of capital targeting infrastructure, Divoky acknowledges that competition is fierce. BCI seeks opportunities in both public and private markets.

“We’ve recognised over the years that competition for private assets has intensified. So we’ve enhanced our ability to find value in listed markets,” he says.

Most recently, BCI led the £1bn take-private of Luxembourg-based BBGI Global Infrastructure. “It’s the first major take-private transaction fully led by the BCI infrastructure team. It’s groundbreaking,” Divoky says.

“We felt BBGI would continue to diversify our global portfolio.” BBGI holds more than 50 infrastructure companies and projects across sectors and geographies.

BCI has previously taken over a public timber company, now part of its Mosaic timber business. Divoky believes BCI will continue to seek opportunities to privatise listed infrastructure companies when the timing and value are right.

Republished with permission. Read the original article on IPE Real Assets.

A name change to reflect the department’s evolution since its inception over 20 years ago 

After more than two decades of growth and evolution, BCI’s Public Markets department is changing its name to Capital Markets & Credit Investments. The change represents the breadth, expertise, and sophistication of the investment strategies the team has built over BCI’s nearly 26-year history. 

What began as a small team in 2000 has grown into a dynamic, multi-faceted group managing more than $165 billion in assets. A key milestone in this evolution is the strategic shift toward internal management capabilities, rising from 57 per cent internally managed assets in 2015 to more than 85 per cent today. This agile approach supports internal innovation, differentiates BCI’s team, generates greater client value, and demonstrates our commitment to building world-class in-house expertise.

The program has successfully navigated multiple market cycles by maintaining defensive positioning with strategic sector allocations and establishing robust liquidity frameworks years in advance. ESG principles have also been integrated directly into investment analysis and decision-making processes, reflecting BCI’s recognition that environmental, social, and governance practices can materially impact investment performance. 

Today, the Capital Markets & Credit Investments department oversees a global portfolio that spans public equities, absolute trading strategies (through the Partnership Portfolio), derivatives trading and indexing, fixed income, foreign exchange, and private debt, while also managing BCI’s Funding Program and overseeing BCI’s ESG strategy. The private debt component alone has grown significantly since its launch in 2018 with the Principal Credit Fund now representing a $20 billion allocation. 

“This change reflects the evolution of our department. Capital Markets & Credit Investments better captures who we are today: a dynamic, forward-looking team that continues to grow and innovate. This new department name honours everything we’ve built and signals where we are headed,” said Daniel Garant, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Capital Markets & Credit Investments.  

As public and private markets strategies converge, the Capital Markets & Credit Investments team’s agility and expertise enable BCI to identify and capitalize on unique investment opportunities across the capital spectrum, delivering stronger outcomes for the clients we serve. 

While the department’s name has evolved, its core mission remains unchanged: delivering strong, risk-adjusted returns for BCI’s clients through diverse investment strategies. 

The evolution of infrastructure investment in the digital and energy transition era 

Lincoln Webb, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Infrastructure & Renewable Resources, recently spoke at McKinsey & Company’s 10th Global Infrastructure Initiative Summit, sharing BCI’s perspective on “Evaluating risk and return in Infrastructure’s new era”. His insights focused on how innovative projects, particularly in energy transition and digital infrastructure, require expanded due diligence frameworks to ensure investments deliver both compelling returns and meaningful societal impact. 

Infrastructure investment success in 2025 requires navigating a complex landscape where traditional defensive assets must coexist with transformational opportunities. Today’s investors must adopt a fundamentally different risk assessment approach – one that integrates predictive modeling, geopolitical analysis, data security scrutiny and ESG factors as core investment criteria, not secondary considerations. BCI’s C$32.2 billion Infrastructure & Renewable Resources (I&RR) portfolio is embracing this evolving risk analysis approach. It allows our I&RR program to concentrate on essential services that demonstrate resilience over long-term investment horizons, while also positioning the portfolio for the economy of tomorrow with more innovative infrastructure investments. 

 
Energy transition: Where returns meet impact 

The energy transition continues to present compelling long-term investment opportunities, with operational assets typically delivering high-single digit net IRRs and development projects offering mid-teen returns over 10 to 20-year investment horizons, while enabling meaningful carbon reduction through renewable energy and supporting infrastructure. McKinsey estimates that clean electricity will account for 65 to 80 per cent of global generation by 2050¹. They also project that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 would require US$9.2 trillion in annual average spending on physical assets for energy and land-use systems through 2050, representing an additional US$3.5 trillion per year compared to current spending levels. This represents an unprecedented capital deployment opportunity for investors who can effectively assess and manage evolving risk profiles. This growth spans renewable energy systems, smart grids, energy storage, and supporting infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions and technologies. 

Today, renewable power investments comprise approximately 9.0 per cent of BCI’s I&RR portfolio – a figure that has steadily grown over the past ten years through investments in Eku Energy, Isagen, Reden Solar, and Shepherds Flat. 

Key factors that we evaluate for energy transition investments include: 

• Regulatory or policy risks: Complexities arising from interacting with multiple regulatory frameworks, as well as changing government and subsidy policies, 

• Technology performance: Evaluating long-term project technologies in terms of production, reliability and durability, and operational costs and long- term maintenance forecasts, and, 

• Market dynamics:  Evaluating energy price stability or volatility, the strength of existing customer contracts, and future expected energy demand. 

Digital Infrastructure: Essential Services For Today’s Economy 

BCI’s most recent digital infrastructure investments have focused on telecommunication assets bridging digital divides and 4G coverage gaps in growth markets, but all digital infrastructure investments require comprehensive technical due diligence. Today, digital infrastructure assets comprise approximately 9.2 per cent of I&RR’s portfolio, including our recent investments in Frontier Towers, Rakuten Mobile and Altius. 

The digital infrastructure sector is estimated to require US$19 trillion of investment by 2040, yet the sector presents unique risk assessment challenges. These include physical infrastructure capacity, radio equipment specifications, transmission capabilities, and co-location opportunities. Investors must evaluate both current operational status and expansion potential for multiple operators. 

Key factors that we evaluate for digital infrastructure investments include: 

• Supply Chain Risks: Critical component constraints and construction timeline pressures, 

• Regulatory Compliance: Evolving cybersecurity requirements and data privacy regulations, 

• Technology Integration: Managing interdependent risks throughout digital infrastructure ecosystems, and, 

• Power Infrastructure: Ensuring adequate power solutions for opportunities in data centers and communications networks. 

Strategic Portfolio Evolution 

The complexity of these interconnected risks requires comprehensive due diligence and sophisticated risk mitigation strategies. While traditional infrastructure assets continue to form the foundation of our core I&RR strategy, our investment scope evolves to capture the best opportunities across sectors – including those in digital and energy transition spaces that align with both our return objectives and our clients’ long-term interests. This approach reflects our commitment to generating long-term value through our investments, leveraging our extensive global network, and applying our unique industry expertise in an increasingly complex investment landscape. 
 

Lincoln Webb (centre) and other panel participants at McKinsey & Company’s 10th Global Infrastructure Initiative Summit. 

(1) https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/sustainability-blog/cop27-financing-the-transition-to-net-zero