As an investor in Maxar Intelligence, provider of secure, precise geospatial intelligence, BCI celebrates the successful launch of their first two WorldView Legion satellites. They were launched yesterday, May 2, 2024, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

These are the first of six WorldView Legion satellites that Maxar Intelligence is expected to launch this year. When these six satellites join Maxar Intelligence’s existing constellation, their 10 electro-optical satellites will be able to collect imagery of the most rapidly changing areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes.

“The successful launch of the first two WorldView Legion satellites represents a transformational moment for our business,” said Dan Smoot, CEO of Maxar Intelligence. “These first-of-a-kind satellites will extend the quality and capability of our industry-leading constellation, tripling our ability to collect 30 cm-class imagery with high revisit rates and at more varied times throughout the day—meaning faster, more actionable insights for our customers.”

“Maxar is a driver of innovation in space technologies and geospatial insights. The launch of their WorldView Legion satellites supports their growth strategy, positioning Maxar Intelligence to meet the growing demands of its clients and remain highly competitive in the geospatial intelligence market,” said Jason Cawley, Senior Managing Director, Private Equity, BCI.

BCI and Advent International acquired Maxar in a 2023 take-private transaction, adding to our diverse $28.3 billion private equity portfolio.

Watch the launch broadcast here.

Read Maxar’s media release here.

BCI’s public markets team is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Weitzel to Senior Managing Director of the Fixed Income & Foreign Exchange (FIFE) team. This transition will ensure continuity of our high-level performance and value delivery to our clients.

Chris joined BCI in 2018 to develop and launch BCI’s Funding Program. In 2023, the Funding Program received the highest possible long-term credit ratings from major global agencies [Moody’s (Aaa), S&P (AAA), and DBRS Morningstar (AAA)]. The program also issued its inaugural debt offering which received interest from over 50 global investors. Prior to joining BCI, Chris had more than 25 years of experience in fixed income, foreign exchange, and funding at major global investment banks in Toronto, London, and New York, after several years with the Bank of Canada.

Chris Weitzel takes over the role following the retirement of Chris Beauchemin, who was with BCI for 35 years. Under Chris Beauchemin’s leadership the FIFE team expanded and created new products such as the Corporate Bond Fund, Principal Credit Fund, Funding Desk, and Active FX, which have brought diversification and tremendous value to our clients.

“I sincerely thank Chris Beauchemin for his remarkable 35-year journey with BCI, and his exceptional leadership which has driven the growth and success of our Fixed Income & Foreign Exchange program. As we welcome Chris Weitzel into his new role, we recognize his remarkable contributions to date, and we are excited to see the program and team continue to thrive under his leadership,” said Daniel Garant, Executive Vice President & Global Head, Public Markets.

Victoria, British Columbia – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Rechelle Effendy as Acting Senior Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Rechelle is responsible to lead and manage BCI’s investment and corporate accounting, investment performance, finance operations, finance client engagement, tax, financial planning, procurement, and financial reporting and valuations teams. Rechelle joined BCI in 2020 and previously held the role of Vice President, Finance.

Rechelle Effendy replaces Umar Malik, who has joined BCI’s private equity team as Senior Managing Director, Chief of Finance. In this role, Umar will oversee the private equity group’s financial management and portfolio insights.

“We have every confidence that BCI’s finance team will continue to deliver the same level of world-class service under Rechelle’s leadership and are delighted to recognize her valuable contributions. We wish Rechelle and Umar great success in their new roles,” said Shauna Lukaitis, Chief Operating Officer.

As standard practice at BCI, a comprehensive executive search for a permanent Senior Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer will be undertaken.

Read more about the private equity group appointments here.

CONTACT
Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement
778-410-7310 | media@bci.ca

BCI’s private equity group is pleased to share news of three new senior leadership positions that will further build our robust investment, portfolio oversight, and value creation strategies.

Blake Fizzard has been named Senior Managing Director, Global Operations, overseeing the private equity group’s operations across all locations, including non-investment strategic planning, and will remain active in his current Board of Director appointments. Blake joined BCI in 2016 and most recently served as Senior Managing Director, Private Equity.

Julian Remedios has been named Senior Managing Director, Global Investments, overseeing the private equity group’s investment processes, including value creation and sourcing of new investment opportunities. Julian joined BCI in 2006 and most recently led BCI’s global healthcare team as Senior Managing Director, Private Equity.

Umar Malik has been named Senior Managing Director, Chief of Finance, overseeing the private equity group’s financial management and portfolio insights. Umar joined BCI in 2018 and most recently served as BCI’s Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. More information on our finance team’s changes can be found here.

 “We are proud to recognize the substantial contributions of Blake, Julian, and Umar, which reflect BCI’s commitment to rewarding excellence and building a best-in-class team, ultimately driving long-term value for our clients,” said Jim Pittman, Executive Vice President & Global Head, Private Equity.

By Thomas Helm
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2024

Republished with permission. Read the original article on Net Zero Investor

BCI’s Jon Perry: ‘renewables are moving past recent challenges’

The Canadian fund’s director of infrastructure and renewable resources talks about recent green investments and the outlook for the wider energy transition sector

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is among the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$233bn in gross assets under management. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, New York City, and London, BCI manages a portfolio of public and private market investments on behalf of 32 British Columbia public sector clients, including 11 pension plans, three insurance funds, and various special purpose funds.

The organisation has been active on climate change for more than 20 years, and investing in opportunities generated by the transition to a low-carbon economy is no exception. Net Zero Investor sat down with Jon Perry, BCI’s director of infrastructure & renewable resources, to find out more.

Could you talk about a recent capital allocation to a green infrastructure project and why it was made? What factors went into the investment decision?
BCI’s $22bn infrastructure & renewable resources program invests in sectors critical to the growth and development of economies and communities, including green infrastructure. We target private assets with high barriers to entry, potential for strong cash flows, and favourable risk-return characteristics. We also focus on meaningful ownership positions with governance rights that allow us to actively manage our investments.

Last year, BCI invested in Eku Energy, a company that develops, builds, and operates a global portfolio of utility-scale battery storage projects, which has 458 MWh of operational and under-construction projects and a pipeline of over 4.5 GWh across Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Another recent investment is Reden Solar, which was our first direct investment in solar energy. Reden Solar develops, finances, builds, and operates solar power plants across Europe and Latin America with an operating portfolio of roughly 1 GW and a development pipeline of more than 10 GW. It focuses on ground-mounted and agrivoltaic projects.

Attractive financials together with the strength of the management teams and our investment partners top the list of factors we consider. We carefully evaluate each investment to understand how it will diversify our exposure to transition opportunities, key markets, and fast-growing sectors.

Both Eku Energy and Reden Solar align with our infrastructure & renewable resources program’s focus on investing in real assets with predictable, long-term demand while also playing a vital role in decarbonisation and advancing the ambitions of BCI’s Climate Action Plan. These types of investments also position us to benefit from future robust national climate policies and clean energy goals, adapting for the world of tomorrow.

Renewables have faced significant economic headwinds with high interest rates and inflation. Is the worst now over? What’s the outlook for renewables in 2024?
It appears that the renewables sector has largely been able to internalise recent challenges as developers and sponsors have become more cautious about advancing projects. As well, we are now seeing finance rates normalising and capital project costs coming under less pressure. In certain segments of the project equipment space like solar panel modules, costs have even started to go down in some markets.

Despite these positive indicators, access to capital is scarcer. Developers are more capital-constrained, partly due to rising rates, incentivising equity sponsors to seek higher returns and support fewer projects overall.

The increasing volume of planned renewable projects is also creating competition. Many developers are forecasting a two to three-times increase in their build-out programs in the next five years compared to the prior five years, resulting in significant capital needs. Sponsors expect this tremendous growth to lead to larger platforms than expected and are looking at means to rebalance. We may see additional and potentially new sponsor support in the space, particularly where returns match hurdle rates.

With a long-term view and patient capital, BCI’s conviction in renewables is supported by the sector’s diversification potential, growing demand, supportive policy environment, and potential for inflation hedging through long-term contracts. We believe that renewables are moving past recent challenges and expect a more stable yet guarded year ahead.

Renewables aside, what other climate tech investments are you making? For example, what are your thoughts around hydrogen and CCUS?
Our team has primarily focused on conventional energy transition investments. These typically have lower technology, project development, and regulatory risk and include wind, solar, and hydro power, as well as energy storage systems. As carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen are becoming more mainstream, we are increasing our exposure through portfolio companies where hydrogen or CCUS projects are part of a broader investment.

A hydrogen-related example from our portfolio is our investment in Open Grid Europe (OGE), an energy transmission company that is developing a Germany-wide hydrogen grid by repurposing its existing network of natural gas pipelines and building new pipelines as part of a Germany-wide initiative. The hydrogen network is currently unique in Europe. It is designed in such a way that it can transport hydrogen via import routes from Europe and the rest of the world.

Similarly, a timberland company in our portfolio, Caddo Sustainable Timberlands (CST), is evaluating the potential development of a CCUS project on a part of its Texas timberlands. This project aims to permanently store more than nine million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Supporting energy transition projects through investments in our portfolio companies allows us to participate in the deployment of new technologies and positions us to consider direct investments in the future. It is also one of the ways we can indirectly support hard-to-abate sectors while maintaining a risk profile that aligns with our investment strategy.

Has the US Inflation Reduction Act helped your net-zero related investments?
The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has provided strong support for renewable power, as well as CCUS and hydrogen projects. Beyond these benefits, we believe a significant impact of the IRA is the positive signal it sends on the future of renewable energy and transition sectors. Other countries, including Canada, have now implemented similar tax and support mechanisms and we expect more to follow.

Nature and climate are increasingly seen as inextricably connected. How does nature factor into your net-zero strategies?
An example of the intersectionality between climate and nature in BCI’s infrastructure & renewable resources portfolio is the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative (BigCoast Forest) recently launched by Mosaic Forest Management. It is the largest project of its kind in Canada and includes deferring timber harvesting to increase natural carbon storage and delay operational emissions, while generating reliable, high-quality carbon offsets.

The initiative contributes to five UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Clean Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, and Responsible Consumption and Production, and a portion of revenues support cultural and scientific research through the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas Innovation Program and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

BCI has also purchased verified carbon units from BigCoast Forest to offset our own operational carbon footprint.

Anything else relating to the climate or nature investment environment that you would like to mention?
As a long-term investor, incorporating ESG considerations into our investment process is an essential part of who we are and what we do. It is also integral to how we meet our responsibility to manage our clients’ funds. From asset allocation to individual investment decisions and asset management, responsible investing is deeply ingrained across our organisation.

The evaluation of our investments’ sustainability policies and practices is embedded into our underwriting, asset management, and monitoring processes. For direct investments, BCI takes an active governance approach through board involvement where we have oversight of our portfolio companies’ ESG strategies and performance.

We continue to look for ESG and climate-related opportunities, including green infrastructure, and teams from every asset class at BCI are engaged in exploring and identifying investments arising from the global transition to a low-carbon economy. This work is key to advancing the ambitions set out in our BCI’s Climate Action Plan and meeting the long-term return objectives of our clients.

Costa Group has achieved another important milestone in its more than 120-year history with the company’s ownership officially changing hands today, after being delisted from the ASX earlier this month.

Costa’s shareholders voted in favour of accepting an offer of $3.20 per share from an experienced North American based consortium made up of Paine Schwartz Partners, Driscoll’s Inc., and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation.

Started by the Costa family, in Geelong Victoria, Australia in the late 1800s, the business over many decades grew into a leading global horticultural company, recognised as having a unique and valuable portfolio of premium quality fresh produce, including the growing, marketing and supply of blueberries, glasshouse tomatoes, citrus, avocados, mushrooms and table grapes.

As of February 2024, Costa has a production and grower network spanning every state of Australia, China, Morocco, and southern Africa. Costa products are sold into numerous countries around the world, including throughout Europe, U.K., Asia, and North America.

Costa is also recognised as being an industry leader in the development of genetics and new plant varieties, especially blueberries. In 2023 alone, Costa launched a record four new blueberry varieties with a strong forward pipeline of products to fuel the company’s growth trajectory.

Paine Schwartz Partners has a long and established track record of investing in the agricultural and food supply chain, which includes a prior equity stake in Costa. Over the past few decades, the firm has invested $5.7 billion in food and agribusiness. This includes not only companies that grow premium fresh produce, such as Monterey Mushrooms, but also ag tech companies, including AgroFresh.

Driscoll’s are well known to Costa, having successfully operated joint ventures together in Australia and China. Driscoll’s are a world leader in the breeding and marketing of berries. They will bring considerable knowledge and resources to the business, and the capability to potentially further the expansion of Costa’s footprint.

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation is a major global institutional investor, with C$233.0 billion in gross assets under management as of March 31, 2023. Their investment in agricultural assets includes an ownership stake in Viterra and mushroom and citrus businesses.

Costa and Driscoll’s will be working on specific projects to grow the global berry business, in addition to their existing arrangements in China, Australia, and the Americas which will continue unaffected.

“The Costa team is looking forward to the future and working with its new owners, who given their extensive background of investing in and operating high quality agricultural assets, are committed to further building the business’s capacity and ensuring its ongoing success,” said Costa Group’s Interim CEO, Mr Harry Debney.

For further information contact: Michael Toby – Corporate Affairs Manager T: +613 8363 9071
 

About Costa – Costa is Australia’s leading grower, packer and marketer of fresh fruit & vegetables and operates principally in five core categories: berries, mushrooms, glasshouse tomatoes, citrus and avocados. Operations include approximately +7,200 planted hectares of farmland, 40 hectares of glasshouse facilities and three mushroom growing facilities across Australia. Costa also has strategic foreign interests, with majority owned joint ventures covering six blueberry farms in Morocco and four berry farms in China, covering approximately 750 planted hectares.

As an investor in GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. (GCT) through our infrastructure & renewable resources program, BCI is proud to support GCT’s signing on to the Federal Net Zero Challenge. Announced in November of 2023, GCT is taking meaningful steps to reach net zero by 2050 and has formalized its commitment through the federal government program.

As a Climate Smart and Green Marine certified leader in Canada’s marine container handling industry, GCT is dedicated to making sustainability a priority — this is the foundation of the Global Commitment Program, which reflects GCT’s dedication to the environment, safety, and community.

Incorporating ESG considerations into our investment process is an essential part of who we are and what we do as a long-term investor. We integrate ESG analysis and risk management in all investment processes, from supporting clients’ asset allocation decisions to individual investment decisions within our portfolios.

To learn more about GCT’s innovation and investments to tackle climate change see here.

Victoria, British Columbia – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is proud to be named one of BC’s Top Employers for the fifth consecutive year. The award is part of Canada’s Top 100 Employers competition produced by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which also named BCI one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers in November.

“British Columbia remains at the heart of our mandate as our team and investment portfolio continues to expand globally,” says Norine Hale, BCI’s Executive Vice President, Human Resources. “The province is home to more than 750 BCI team members and countless beneficiaries of the public sector clients we serve, making this recognition particularly meaningful.”

The award is a testament to BCI’s work in building a progressive and welcoming workplace of choice that attracts, retains, and promotes world-class talent. With strong marks across all eight award criteria,¹ this year highlights BCI’s commitment to fostering healthy and resilient communities through employee programs and corporate support as a driver for selection.

“Bringing together world-class professionals to do work that matters is key to our success,” adds Hale. “That same sense of connection extends beyond our workplace, and the dedication of our people to making the communities where we live and work better for all has become ingrained in BCI’s culture.”

Employees are empowered to participate in BCI’s community engagement initiatives including grassroots employee-led committees focused on volunteerism and fundraising. BCI recently doubled its paid volunteer time for team members to give back based on their personal passions. In 2023, employees gave back to more than 30 organizations with activities ranging from serving as on non-profit boards to frontline support. Through grassroots fundraising activities, BCI employees have raised more than $1.2 million since 2000.

On March 7, BCI was honoured to also be named one of Canada’s Top Family-Friendly Employers in recognition of our parental leave packages, comprehensive benefits plan, health and wellness supports, and generous vacation policy.

Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation’s largest publisher of employment periodicals, reaching millions of Canadians each year. To read BCI’s top employer profile, visit the Canada’s Top 100 Employers website and read the special feature published in the Vancouver Sun.

Find out more about our workplace culture and opportunities to work with us at  BCI.ca/careers.

CONTACT
Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement
778-410-7310 | media@bci.ca

¹ (1) Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is pleased to announce that Reg Bawa will join the BCI Board of Directors on January 1, 2024. The Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees has appointed Reg for a three-year term.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to welcome Reg to the BCI Board,” said Peter Milburn, Chair of BCI’s Board of Directors. “Reg brings more than 30 years of experience and leadership in public service, combined with a strong background in governance and finance.”

“I am honoured to be joining the BCI Board,” said Reg. “We have a shared goal of helping our client boards build a financially secure future for hundreds of thousands of British Columbians, and I look forward to working with my fellow colleagues to continue to provide effective oversight and governance.”

Reg succeeds Rob Taylor as the Teachers’ Pension Plan member on the BCI Board. Rob, who is completing his term on December 31, 2023, has served on the Board since 2022 as a Director and member of the Audit Committee.

“We sincerely thank Rob for his important contributions and commitment to the strong, independent governance of BCI,” added Peter.

Reg has served as a trustee on the Teachers’ Pension Board of Trustees since 2010. He recently completed a two-year term as Chair and will serve as Vice-Chair in 2024. Reg is the Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy, Programs, and Partnerships at the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. His career with the British Columbia Public Service spans more than 30 years. During that time, Reg has held senior positions with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Children & Family Development, Provincial Treasury, Provincial Revenue, and Office of the Comptroller General and has also been responsible for leading finance, strategic human resources, and IT for large complex ministries. Reg is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA).

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.

More information about BCI’s Board of Directors can be found here.

For information, please contact media@bci.ca

We use our influence as an asset owner to drive ESG improvements within our portfolio and across the broader capital markets. We believe that strong ESG practices will ultimately lead to stronger performance.

Proxy voting, an ownership right that allows BCI to participate in the decisions of public companies, is a powerful way we apply our influence. We aim to vote at the meetings of every public company in our portfolio and we publish these votes, in real time, through a transparent database on our website. We vote according to our Proxy Voting Guidelines which are updated every two years to reflect the evolving expectations we have for the public companies in our portfolio.

This voting season, from March to June 2023, was very active for us with 2,571 ballots cast globally. BCI’s support for shareholder proposals overall remained unchanged from the previous year at 59 per cent with minor increases for environmental and governance proposals and a slight drop for social proposals. This drop was largely driven by an overly prescriptive proposal filed at a dozen U.S. companies which received minimal support.

Environmental and Social Proposals
While a record number of environmental and social (E&S) shareholder proposals were filed in the U.S.; hundreds were withdrawn, indicating filers likely succeeded in getting companies to agree to the proposals’ asks. About 340 E&S proposals made it to the ballot, an increase from 300 in 2022.
Despite an increase in filing volume, average support for E&S proposals dropped to around 20 per cent this year from the high in 2021 which averaged just above 30 per cent.
Of note, there were substantially fewer governance proposals in the last two years as the focus shifted to E&S topics, with the exception of proposals seeking independent chairs and the separation of CEO and board chair roles, which doubled.

A Closer Look: Key Actions

• Imperial Oil: BCI filed our own climate-related shareholder proposal calling for increased climate risk disclosure at Imperial Oil. This was the first proposal of its kind filed by a large Canadian public sector pension investment manager going to a vote at a Canadian company. BCI was the sole filer on the proposal, which garnered the support of nearly 20 per cent of all publicly held voting shares (excluding parent company Exxon’s controlling shares).
• Meta Platforms: BCI supported a shareholder proposal asking Facebook’s parent company to set targets and publish an annual performance assessment regarding child safety impacts on its platform. The proposal won 17 per cent support, which is substantial since the founder controls 61 per cent of votes.
• Cenovus Energy: BCI supported a proposal requesting an assessment of how the company’s climate lobbying activities align with its net-zero goal. Management supported the proposal and it received 99.5 per cent support. BCI expects companies’ lobbying activities to align with their public commitments on environmental or social factors.
• Citigroup: BCI supported a proposal that asked Citigroup Inc. for a report on the efficacy of the company’s practices in ensuring its financing activities respect international standards for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The proposal received significant support at just over 30 per cent.

The Path Ahead
Our work doesn’t stop at the ballot. After we vote, BCI directly follows up with select portfolio companies to ensure they understand our rationale and expectations. We also closely review our voting record to see how we made an impact and find areas to refine our approach. This review is an important step in preparing for any repeat shareholder proposals and will inform our biennial Proxy Voting Guideline update planned for 2025.
Proxy voting is part of a broader stewardship program at BCI, which also includes a significant focus on direct and collaborative engagement and policy advocacy work. As responsible stewards of our clients’ assets, acting as an engaged and committed investor is crucial to ensuring the long-term sustainability of our investments.