Category: Uncategorised

Victoria, B.C. – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) congratulates Gordon J. Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, on his appointment to the Order of British Columbia. This esteemed honour is a testament to Gordon’s remarkable career accomplishments and commitment to British Columbia.

The Order of British Columbia is the province’s highest form of recognition and is awarded to individuals who have made exceptional contributions through outstanding achievements, dedication, and service across various fields.

“Having grown up in Victoria, it is a privilege to lead the provider of investment management services for the province’s public sector. Not only does our work ensure financial security for pensioners and insurance funds, it promises enduring benefits for generations of British Columbians to come,” says Gordon J. Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer.

“I am humbled to be appointed to the Order of British Columbia alongside many distinguished leaders in our community, and want to extend my gratitude to those who have profoundly influenced my own journey. I look forward to continuing to contribute to our province’s prosperity, resilience, and success.”

Gordon’s appointment celebrates his significant contributions, including transforming BCI into a leading global investor and one of Canada’s largest asset managers as well as advancing the broader investment industry. Under his leadership, BCI:

• Achieved a 10-year annualized return of 8.5 per cent for our six largest pension clients, equivalent to $16.3 billion in cumulative added value, surpassing the benchmark of 7.2 per cent and ensuring our pension clients remain fully funded;
• Increased assets under management to $233.0 billion¹ as of March 31, 2023, up from $121.9 billion² within eight years;
• Expanded assets managed in-house to 82 per cent of the total portfolio in 2023 from 57 per cent in 2016 and diversified returns, including increased exposure to private markets;
• Grew the team to more than 700 dedicated employees and established three new offices in strategic locations: Vancouver, New York, and London, U.K.;
• Championed the integration of ESG factors into investment decisions and active asset management internally and across capital markets;
• Developed an award-winning co-op and intern program, providing valuable opportunities for students from British Columbia and across Canada; and
• Founded QuadReal Property Group to expertly manage our clients’ global real estate equity and debt programs.

BCI is proud of this well-earned recognition, which underscores the exemplary leadership of our CEO/CIO together with his commitment to serving our clients and their beneficiaries across British Columbia.

The Order of British Columbia investiture ceremony for 2023 recipients will take place at Government House in Victoria in the late fall.

Read the announcement from the Office of the Premier and view the full list of appointees.

ABOUT BCI
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$233.0 billion in gross assets under management, as of March 31, 2023. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, New York City, and London, U.K., BCI manages a portfolio of diversified public and private market investments on behalf of our 32 British Columbia public sector clients.

With a global outlook, BCI integrates ESG factors into investment decisions and activities that convert savings into productive capital to meet clients’ risk and return requirements over time. Founded in 1999, BCI is a statutory corporation created by the Public Sector Pension Plans Act. For more information, visit BCI.ca or LinkedIn.

CONTACT
Olga Petrycki, Director, External Stakeholder Engagement

media@bci.ca

¹ Gross assets under management, including clients’ investment liabilities achieved through government bond repurchase agreements.
² Net assets under management.

VICTORIA, BC – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) today released our Corporate Annual Report for the year ended March 31, 2023. The report outlines how BCI’s adaptability to rapidly changing market conditions resulted in the greatest one-year value add for the second year in a row.

“Our fiscal year unfolded in an environment of heightened volatility and uncertainty. It is a testament to the exceptional calibre and commitment of our team, and their ability to adapt to abruptly changing circumstances, that we were able to skillfully navigate through the turbulence and deliver strong investment results for our clients,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. “I take pride in what we have accomplished in trying circumstances, and wish to express my appreciation to all the remarkable people throughout the corporation who share the credit for our success.”

In addition to the Annual Returns released on June 27, 2023, the 2022-2023 Corporate Annual Report provides a summary of our annual activities.

During the year, BCI achieved many investment and operational milestones, key highlights include:

• BCI delivered the strongest year of outperformance to date, delivering 3.2¹ per cent above the Combined Pension Plans² benchmark, resulting in $4.6 billion in value add for our clients due to our diversifying public and private market investment strategies.
• Gross assets under management³ grew to $233.0 billion as we further develop our actively managed strategies and internal management, enabling us to continue to build meaningful futures for our clients no matter the market environment.
• Our commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is deeply ingrained within our organization, reflected in our investment beliefs, ESG principles, and the application of our ESG Governance Policy. This year we appointed a Global Head of ESG and grew the ESG team to 16 professionals.
• In a highly competitive market for top talent, we continued to seek out, welcome, and engage the world’s best and brightest to work on our clients’ behalf and grew our workforce to more than 700 professionals. We were once again recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, one of Canada’s Top Family-Friendly Employers, and one of BC’s Top Employers.

Further information on our initiatives and activities can be found in our updated 2024-2026 Business Plan, also released today. Guided by our Long-Term Vision, four strategic ambitions form the basis of our business plan: Strengthening the Client Value Proposition, Optimizing Risk-Adjusted Returns, Leveraging Digital Technology, and Focusing on Our Talent— including progress around equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Our 2022-2023 Corporate Annual Report and 2024-2026 Business Plan are available on BCI.ca/reports.

ABOUT BCI
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$233.0 billion in gross assets under management, as of March 31, 2023. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, New York City, and London, U.K., BCI manages a portfolio of diversified public and private market investments on behalf of our 32 British Columbia public sector clients.

With a global outlook, BCI integrates ESG factors into investment decisions and activities that convert savings into productive capital to meet clients’ risk and return requirements over time. Founded in 1999, BCI is a statutory corporation created by the Public Sector Pension Plans Act. For more information, visit BCI.ca or LinkedIn.

CONTACT
Olga Petrycki, Director, External Stakeholder Engagement

media@bci.ca

¹ Includes the impact of the centralized currency management program.

² The Combined Pension Plans reflect the investments of BCI’s six largest pension clients, namely: BC Hydro Pension Plan; College Pension Plan; Municipal Pension Plan; Public Service Pension Plan; Teachers’ Pension Plan; and WorkSafeBC Pension Plan.

³ Gross assets under management are shown net of leverage issued by QuadReal Property Group and include clients’ investment liabilities achieved through government bond repurchase agreements managed by BCI’s funding program.

Today, CEOs of 11 of Canada’s leading pension plan investment managers, representing more than $2 trillion in assets under management, call on companies focused on long-term value to embrace the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) disclosure framework, launched this week.

Together, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CPP Investments, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, OMERS, OPTrust, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, OPTrust, PSP Investments and University Pension Plan have issued a joint statement in support of the inaugural ISSB standards (“Standards”). The new ISSB standards help consolidate existing disclosure standards including the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.

The CEOs said they believe widespread adoption of this new global baseline will spur companies to more closely examine and manage activities that are having an increasingly material impact on long-term value creation.

The joint statement declares that Canada’s pension plan investment managers “are mandated to deliver long-term risk-adjusted returns that help support retirement and benefit security for millions of people. In 2020, many of our organizations spoke about the importance of companies and investment partners placing long-term sustainability of their business at the centre of their strategic planning, operations, and reporting. We believe that integrating material sustainability-related factors into our strategies and investment decisions is an integral part of the duty that many of us owe to clients, contributors and beneficiaries. Understanding these factors helps us individually work to unlock opportunities and mitigate risks.

How companies identify and address issues such as diversity and inclusion, human capital, board effectiveness and climate change can significantly contribute to value creation or erosion. Companies have an obligation to disclose their material business risks and opportunities to their investors and, in our view, should provide financially relevant, comparable, and decision-useful information.

For our part, we will continue to strive to strengthen our own sustainability disclosures and allocate capital to businesses best placed to preserve and create value over the long run.”

The ISSB, which released the new standards on June 26, said this new framework will help to improve trust and confidence in company disclosures about sustainability to inform investment decisions. For the first time, the Standards create a common language for disclosing the effect of climate-related risks and opportunities on a company’s prospects, the ISSB noted.

The Standards have been developed to be used in conjunction with any accounting requirements under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

• IFRS S1 provides a set of disclosure requirements designed to enable companies to communicate to investors about the sustainability-related risks and opportunities they face over the short, medium and long term.
• IFRS S2 sets out specific climate-related disclosures and is designed to be used with IFRS S1.

Both fully incorporate the TCFD recommendations.

The ISSB developed IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 with the benefit of extensive market feedback and in response to calls from the G20, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), as well as leaders in the business and investor community. This support for a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosures demonstrates the widespread demand for a consistent understanding of how sustainability factors affect companies’ prospects.

ABOUT

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)

AUM $158 billion (as at December 31, 2022)

About

Media: Carolyn Quick, Tel: +1 (647) 249 8917, Email: mediarelations@aimco.ca

BCI       

Gross AUM $233.0 billion (as at March 31, 2023)

About

Media: Olga Petrycki, Tel: +1 778 410 7100 Email: media@bci.ca

CDPQ   

AUM $402 billion (as at December 31, 2022)      

About

Media: Conrad Harrington, Tel: +1 514 847 5493, Email: charrington@cdpq.com

CPP Investments            

AUM $570 billion (as at March 31, 2023)

About

Media: Steve McCool, Tel: +44 7780 224 245, Email: smccool@cppib.com

HOOPP

AUM $103.7 billion (as at December 31, 2022)  

About

Media: James Geuzebroek, Email: jgeuzebroek@hoopp.com

Investment Management Corporation of Ontario

AUM $73.3 billion (as at December 31, 2022)     

About

Media: Neil Murphy, Tel: +1 (416) 898-3917, Email: neil.murphy@imcoinvest.com

OMERS

AUM $124.2 billion (as at December 31, 2022)  

About

Media: Lori McLeod, Tel: + 1-437-241-8480, Email: media@omers.com

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan           

AUM $247.2 billion (as at December 31, 2022)

About

Media: Dan Madge, Tel: +1 416 730 6451, Email: media@otpp.com

OPTrust

AUM $24.6 billion (as at December 31, 2022)

About

Media: Claire Prashaw, Tel: +1 416 859 9386, Email: cprashaw@optrust.com

PSP Investments

AUM $243.7 billion (as at March 31, 2023)         

About

Media: Maria Constantinescu, Tel: +1 514 218 3795, Email: media@investpsp.ca

University Pension Plan

AUM $10.8 billion (as at December 31, 2022)     

About

Media: Zandra Alexander, Tel: +1 (647) 454 2612, Email: zandra.alexander@universitypensionplan.ca

Achieves greatest one-year value add for the second year in a row and increases gross assets under management to $233.0 billion 

Return highlights for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023:

• One-year net annual return of 3.5%, representing $4.6 billion in added value
• Five-year net annualized return of 7.2%, representing $10.5 billion in added value
• 10-year net annualized return of 8.5%, representing $16.3 billion in added value
• 20-year net annualized return of 8.4%, representing $19.5 billion in added value

VICTORIA, BC – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) announced today an annual combined pension plan return of 3.5 per cent, net of all fees, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, against a benchmark of 0.3 per cent. Gross assets under management increased to $233.0 billion, from $228.6 billion in fiscal 2022, excluding ($18.0 billion) in investment liabilities managed by BCI’s funding program¹. BCI increased net assets under management by $3.9 billion to $215.0 billion, which reflects net investment gains of $6.7 billion and client net withdrawals of $2.8 billion.

“During an unprecedented year, we are proud to have protected capital and added value for our 32 British Columbia public sector clients,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, BCI’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer. “We have been preparing for a difficult market economic environment and our results are a testament to the merits of our proactive approach to risk management, portfolio diversification, and active investing.”

BCI delivered a strong year of relative performance despite prolonged market volatility, inflationary pressures, and record-high interest rates not seen in decades. Fiscal 2023 is the second consecutive year where a new high-water mark for outperformance was established with 3.2² per cent excess return above the benchmark, representing $4.6 billion in value add. In fiscal 2022, 2.8² per cent in outperformance above the benchmark resulted in a value add of $4.4 billion. This reflects the strength and resiliency of the portfolios across asset classes and BCI’s focus on owning quality companies and mitigating downside risk during this challenging market environment. Private equity and infrastructure & renewable resources contributed significant gains, demonstrating the effectiveness of BCI’s greater emphasis on the private markets and inflation-sensitive assets.

“BCI’s portfolio of diversified public and private market investments, most of which are actively managed in-house, allows a flexibility and responsiveness to changing market conditions that helped us deliver strong performance despite the ongoing market turmoil,” added Fyfe. “In a rising rate and volatile market environment like this, active management is especially important. Each basis point we generate for our clients above the market return is key to their long-term success.”

¹_{Includes clients’ investment liabilities achieved through government bond repurchase agreements.}

²_{Includes the impact of the clients’ currency hedging policies.}

ASSET CLASS HIGHLIGHTS

Public Markets 

Public markets, composed of fixed income, private debt, public equity, and absolute return strategy investments, represent $138.0 billion and account for 64.2 per cent of net assets under management, compared with $142.3 billion at the end of fiscal 2022. Additionally, our public markets team manages BCI’s funding program¹ representing ($18.0 billion), or (8.4) per cent of net assets under management.

Public Equities 

• Outperformed due to our focus on investing in high-quality companies especially as equity markets dampened while central banks tried to rein in inflation
• Continued to invest in diversifying and value-add strategies for clients with $960 million in deployments in the Global Emerging Markets Fund and $1.9 billion gross deployments in the Global Partnership Fund (GPF)
• The GPF provides clients exposure to absolute return investment strategies and of the 41 months since BCI’s first absolute return investment, 16 were negative for global equities, with the index returning a negative cumulative return of (44.6) per cent during those months. In contrast, our absolute return investments delivered 20.5 per cent cumulative returns during those months and only delivered negative performance during three of the 16 months. BCI’s absolute return strategies have grown to over $5 billion net asset value with total investments in over 30 funds and more than 23 co-investments

Fixed Income 

• Outperformed due to disciplined credit selection and BCI’s ability to take on larger loan allocations
• Established a reputation as a leading institutional provider of capital to the direct lending market. In less than five years, BCI has grown the private debt portfolio to $13.5 billion as at the end of the fiscal year
• On a one-year period, the Principal Credit Fund generated positive returns of 4.6 per cent and outperformed the benchmark by 2.5 per cent
• Invested in 22 sustainable bond issuances valued at over $1.1 billion, increasing total historical participation to $4.2 billion; we expect this number to grow to $5 billion by 2025

Private Equity

Private equity represents $28.3 billion and 13.1 per cent of net assets under management, compared with $24.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2022.

• Committed a record $9.8 billion in overall capital with $3.7 billion allocated to 14 direct investments including capital commitments to existing investments
• Created $15.4 billion of value over the last five years and returned $20.5 billion in cash distributions to clients
• Invested in Authority Brands, a residential home services platform in North America, Maxar Technologies, a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, and ZEDRA, a global specialist in active wealth, corporate and global expansion, funds as well as in pensions and incentives solutions. Maxar Technologies and ZEDRA closed in early fiscal 2024

Infrastructure & Renewable Resources

Our infrastructure & renewable resources (I&RR) program represents $22.3 billion and 10.4 per cent of net assets under management, compared with $20.2 billion at the end of fiscal 2022.

• Outperformed due to our regulated utility assets exposure, which has been resilient to rising interest rates, and strong capital appreciation. Deal activity was robust in the I&RR space which generated a material valuation uplift for some of our assets
• Committed $4.0 billion in new opportunities including co-investments in two energy transition assets, Reden Solar, BCI’s first direct investment in solar energy, and Eku Energy, the first direct investment in battery storage. The investments demonstrate BCI’s commitment to actively invest in key areas we believe will benefit from the energy transition as outlined in our 2022 Climate Action Plan

Real Estate Equity

Our real estate equity program represents $36.1 billion and 16.8 per cent of net assets under management, compared with $33.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2022. These assets are actively managed by QuadReal Property Group (QuadReal), an independently operated company owned by BCI.

• Outperformed due to an overweight sector allocation to industrial, residential, and alternative assets, with geographic diversification, including now managing industrial real estate assets in the United States, thereby protecting the portfolio from market volatility
• Overall, net deployment was $3.5 billion, which was slightly higher than expected, while strategic disposition activity was focused on enhancing the resiliency of the portfolio. Significantly, distributions were executed in every region in which QuadReal is operating today
• Added value by securing longer-term leases with commercial tenants and generated strong rental growth in industrial properties with higher market rent lease-ups, allowing the portfolio to benefit from high occupancy levels and stable revenue

Real Estate Debt

Also managed by QuadReal, our real estate debt program represents $7.9 billion or 3.7 per cent of net assets under management, compared to $7.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2022.

• Outperformed due to the floating rate loans, which make up about 80 per cent of the portfolio, as these loans adjust to the higher interest rates
• Deployed $1.1 billion in real estate debt, in line with expectations. As banks face increasing capital constraints and property valuations become uncertain, non-bank lenders like QuadReal are well-positioned to benefit from opportunities to fill out the capital structure through subordinate debt and similar financing structures

BCI’s corporate annual report outlining other investment and operational highlights will be released on July 12, 2023, and will be available online at BCI.ca/reports. All figures are in Canadian dollars. 

ABOUT BCI 

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$233.0 billion in gross assets under management, as of March 31, 2023. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, New York City, and London, U.K., BCI manages a portfolio of diversified public and private market investments on behalf of our 32 British Columbia public sector clients.

With a global outlook, BCI integrates ESG factors into investment decisions and activities that convert savings into productive capital to meet clients’ risk and return requirements over time. Founded in 1999, BCI is a statutory corporation created by the Public Sector Pension Plans Act.

CONTACT 

Olga Petrycki, Director, External Stakeholder Engagement

media@bci.ca

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Victoria, CANADA – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) announced today it has signed a definitive agreement in support of the proposed merger between Viterra Limited (Viterra) and Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) (Bunge), an agriculture, commodities, and food company.

BCI owns 10 per cent of Viterra and will exchange its ownership for a minority stake in the combined entity and cash upon the close of the transaction. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Glencore PLC will also become shareholders of Bunge.

Viterra is a leading, global agriculture network, which connects producers to consumers with sustainable, traceable, and quality-controlled agricultural products. Bunge is a leader in oilseed processing and a significant global producer and supplier of plant-based oils and fats. The agribusinesses have highly complementary capabilities and footprints, and together will be able to better serve customers from a stronger global network and increased diversification across geographies, seasonal cycles, and crops.

The transaction is expected to close in mid-2024, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by Bunge shareholders.

“In the context of climate change and the need for greater food security, we believe the proposed combination of Viterra and Bunge creates a compelling agricultural and food platform – allowing for enhanced investment in global supply chain resiliency and sustainable food production practices,” said Lincoln Webb, executive vice president & global head, infrastructure & renewable resources at BCI. “As a long-term responsible institutional investor, we look forward to the leading role the new company will take in the future of agriculture.”

About British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)

BCI is among the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$211.1 billion under management as at March 31, 2022. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, London, and New York City, BCI invests in: fixed income and private debt; public and private equity; infrastructure & renewable resources; as well as real estate equity and real estate debt. With our global outlook, we seek investment opportunities that convert savings into productive capital that will meet our clients’ risk and return requirements over time.

BCI’s infrastructure & renewable resources program, valued at C$20.2 billion, invests in tangible long-life assets that include a portfolio of direct investments in companies across a variety of sectors spanning regulated utilities, energy, telecommunications, transportation, timberlands, and agriculture. The program is diversified across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America.

For more information

Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement, BCI
media@bci.ca

LONDON, NEW YORK, and VICTORIA, British Columbia – ZEDRA (“ZEDRA” or “the Company”), a global specialist in active wealth, corporate and global expansion, funds as well as in pensions and incentives solutions, today announces the successful close of a strategic minority investment from British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”), one of Canada’s largest institutional investors. This investment, which was announced in March 2022, has been approved by all relevant authorities. Corsair, the company’s existing majority investor, will remain the lead shareholder following the transaction. This new investment will not affect the ongoing operations of ZEDRA, whose management team will continue to hold a significant shareholding in the company.

Founded in 2016, ZEDRA is one of the fastest growing global specialists in trust, fiduciary, corporate, and fund services delivering a tailored and diversified range of wealth, governance, and administrative solutions to clients who include high net worth individuals and families, multi-national companies of all sizes, corporate pension schemes as well as alternative investment managers. With this additional investment, and the continued support of Corsair, ZEDRA is better positioned to further expand its global footprint and enhance its offerings to clients.

Bart Deconinck, executive chairman at ZEDRA, said “We are excited to officially bring on board BCI as an investor to support and accelerate ZEDRA’s plans for global sustainable growth. The senior management teams across ZEDRA, Corsair, and BCI have a shared vision for the future of the company, and we feel strongly that this partnership will further our ability to provide unparalleled, high-quality service to our clients’ evolving needs.”

Raja Hadji-Touma, partner at Corsair, said “We are delighted to announce the close of this transaction and formally welcome BCI as an investor in ZEDRA. As majority shareholder since 2020, we are proud of the work we have accomplished in supporting the rapid growth of the company and believe the successful closing of this strategic investment speaks to Corsair’s unique ability to operate and execute within highly regulated industries.”

Jim Pittman, executive vice president & global head, private equity at BCI, said “ZEDRA has successfully built a strong, global franchise in recent years. We continue to be impressed with the business’ growth and approach to expansion through numerous strategic acquisitions. As we expand BCI’s presence across Europe, we see the completion of this investment as a significant milestone. The corporate services, active wealth, pensions and fund solutions sector remains a core area of focus for BCI, and we look forward to generating attractive returns for our pension plan and insurance fund clients through this investment.”

About ZEDRA

ZEDRA is a global specialist providing tailored corporate & global expansion, active wealth, pensions & incentives as well as fund solutions, all aligned under one common goal: to embrace the future with certainty.

In a highly regulated environment, ZEDRA delivers its clients high quality solutions through bespoke planning, governance, and operational services, ensuring the highest standards of compliance and integrity are met.

The firm’s experienced teams enable high net worth individuals and families as well as, medium to large sized companies, pension funds and trustees, asset managers, and their investors to focus on their core activities by choosing ZEDRA as their trusted partner.

Since 2016, ZEDRA’s solid foundations combined with innovative thinking have allowed the company to grow rapidly in a competitive marketplace to a team of 900+ industry experts across 16 countries spanning Asia, Oceania, the Americas, and Europe.

www.zedra.com

About Corsair

Corsair is a specialist investment firm offering opportunities for investors and solutions for companies across its private markets buyouts and infrastructure platforms. The firm’s buyouts business is a financial services investor focused on making control investments in three verticals: payments, software & business services. The infrastructure business focuses on core plus and value-added opportunities, and blends operating platforms, deep sector expertise, and traditional equity sponsorship. Corsair has invested $9.4 billion in capital across buyouts and $4.4 billion in capital across infrastructure since inception.

For more information please visit https://corsair-capital.com/.

Media Contacts
ZEDRA
Jamie Brownlee / Eleonore Basle
Greentarget
+44 783 457 1183
zedra@greentarget.co.uk

BCI
Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement, BCI
media@bci.ca

Corsair
Alex Nye / Peter Gavaris
Prosek Partners
pro-corsair@prosek.com

Maxar Becomes Privately Held Company

WESTMINSTER, Colo., BOSTON & NEW YORK — Maxar Technologies (“Maxar” or the “Company”), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, today announced that U.S. private equity firm Advent International (“Advent”), alongside minority investor British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”), completed their acquisition of Maxar. With the closing of the transaction, Maxar will remain a U.S.-controlled, owned and operated company.

On December 16, 2022, Advent and Maxar announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement under which all outstanding shares of Maxar common stock would be acquired for $53.00 per share in cash, valuing Maxar at approximately $6.4 billion.

With the completion of the transaction, Maxar’s common stock has ceased trading and is no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Maxar’s common stock will also be de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange. An application will be made for Maxar to cease to be a reporting issuer in the applicable Canadian jurisdictions as a result of completion of the transaction.

Advisors

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisor to Maxar and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as lead counsel to Maxar. Milbank LLP served as Maxar’s legal advisor with respect to certain space industry and regulatory matters.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisors to Advent and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as lead counsel to Advent. Covington & Burling LLP served as Advent’s legal advisor with respect to certain regulatory matters.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as lead counsel to BCI. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP served as BCI’s legal advisor with respect to certain regulatory matters.

About Maxar 

Maxar Technologies is a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space. Our unique approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven commercial and defense foundation to deploy solutions and deliver insights with unrivaled speed, scale and cost effectiveness. Maxar’s 4,400 team members in over 20 global locations are inspired to harness the potential of space to help our customers create a better world. For more information, visit www.maxar.com.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Boston, MA, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 405 private equity investments across 42 countries, and as of December 31, 2022, had $92 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 290 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. This includes investments in defense, security and cybersecurity as well as critical national infrastructure.

For over 35 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

For more information, visit

Website: www.adventinternational.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advent-international

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Statements concerning general economic conditions, our financial condition, including our anticipated revenues, earnings, cash flows or other aspects of our operations or operating results, and our expectations or beliefs concerning future events; and any statements using words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “intend,” “foresee,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “may,” “estimate,” “outlook” or similar expressions, including the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements that involve certain factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause Maxar’s actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.

Contacts:

For Maxar:
Investor Relations
Jonny Bell
(303) 684-5543
jonny.bell@maxar.com

Media Relations
Fernando Vivanco
(720) 877-5220
fernando.vivanco@maxar.com

OR

Scott Bisang / Eric Brielmann / Jack Kelleher
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
(212) 355-4449
dgi-jf@joelefrank.com

For Advent:
Bryan Locke / Jeremy Pelofsky
FGS Global
(212) 687-8080
adventinternational-us@fgsglobal.com

For BCI:
Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement
(778) 410-7310
media@bci.ca

Proposal is the first of its kind for a large Canadian public sector pension investment manager

Victoria, British Columbia – British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) filed a shareholder proposal calling for Imperial Oil Limited (Imperial Oil) to increase disclosure on climate risk. This is the first climate-related shareholder proposal filed by a large Canadian public sector pension investment manager going to a vote at a Canadian company. BCI is the sole filer on the proposal, which will be presented at Imperial Oil’s annual general meeting on May 2, 2023.

“Disclosure of accounting assumptions related to climate change and the energy transition is a fast-emerging shareholder expectation,” says Jennifer Coulson, senior managing director & global head, ESG. “We require transparent accounting disclosure in financial statements to make informed investment decisions, including visibility over off-balance sheet liabilities, and Imperial Oil has not provided sufficient information.”

The proposal requests that Imperial Oil’s Board of Directors provide an audited report estimating the impacts of the International Energy Agency Net Zero by 2050 pathway on all asset retirement obligations by February 2024. Asset retirement obligations are the costs associated with the regulatory requirement to decommission assets at the end of their life. Companies account for certain future costs through financial statements, and we expect to have visibility of current off-balance sheet liabilities of assets with indefinite useful lives.

In addition to the shareholder proposal, BCI has voted against key directors at the upcoming meeting. These votes are based on our assessment that the company’s lack of risk oversight has led to major controversies related to tailings integrity and insufficient Indigenous engagement.

Taking action on climate change for more than 20 years, BCI has supported the Climate Action 100+ collaborative engagements with Imperial Oil and its majority shareholder Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) since 2017. BCI has co-filed a similar proposal at ExxonMobil. These actions reflect an escalation of our engagement efforts and align with the expectations and goals of Climate Action 100+.

More information is available on the Climate Action 100+ website.

CONTACT
Olga Petrycki
Director, External Stakeholder Engagement
media@bci.ca

ABOUT BCI
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is amongst the largest institutional investors in Canada with C$211.1 billion under management, as of March 31, 2022. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, with offices in Vancouver, New York City, and London, U.K., BCI is invested in: fixed income and private debt; public and private equity; infrastructure and renewable resources; as well as real estate equity and real estate debt through our independently operated platform company QuadReal Property Group. With our global outlook, we seek investment opportunities that convert savings into productive capital that will meet our clients’ risk and return requirements over time. This compels us to integrate long-term ESG matters into all investment decisions and activities. BCI’s clients include pension plans representing over 715,000 plan members, insurance funds providing more than three million Autoplan insurance policies annually, benefits coverage to more than two million workers and 225,000 companies, and special purpose funds within British Columbia’s public sector. Founded in 1999, BCI is a statutory corporation created by the Public Sector Pension Plans Act.

In April 2022, we launched an internally managed strategy in the Active Emerging Markets Equity Fund. The strategy provides cost and operational efficiencies for clients, while allowing us to use our deep expertise to capture long-term growth opportunities through internal, active management. It also enables us to expand our in-house emerging markets experience. During the development of the strategy, we focused on tailoring our ESG analysis to the unique considerations for emerging markets. Jean-Christophe, Managing Director, Global Emerging Markets, describes how ESG was integrated into the strategy from the outset.

Why is ESG important in emerging markets?

Emerging markets are at the forefront of systemic issues like climate change. However, emerging markets have generally not yet reached developed markets’ level of sophistication in terms of regulation, disclosure, corporate governance, and other ESG considerations. ESG data is also more scarce and less reliable in emerging markets. As a result, risks of ESG-related financial impacts can be higher than in developed markets, both at the company and country levels. This is why it is important to integrate ESG throughout our investment process.

How did BCI build ESG into the strategy?

We incorporated ESG principles while drafting the strategy’s initial business plan, helping establish our embedded approach to ESG from day one. Close collaboration between BCI’s dedicated ESG and investment teams ensured we fully considered ESG at the company, sector, and country levels. When we launched the strategy, we built tailored analytical tools to assess ESG data and analyze the investment universe for ESG considerations.

How is ESG factored into ongoing management?

With our ESG colleagues, we continually review the emerging markets landscape through an ESG lens and anticipate shifts that could impact the portfolio. A member of the ESG team participates in our daily meetings to exchange insights and discuss our engagement strategies with companies. Each quarter, we conduct a global ESG review of the portfolio and openly discuss ESG risks and opportunities in the investment universe.

For each investment, we analyze expected returns and ESG considerations. For example, governance can be challenging in emerging markets. We flag issuers where managers are trading shares of their own companies. We encountered this twice in 2022 and reviewed the implications with our ESG colleagues. In the case of one company, the poor practices eroded our conviction and the stock was not selected for the portfolio. Through engagement with the second company, we were able to influence improvements and continue to hold the stock in our portfolio.

BCI’s infrastructure & renewable resources program invests globally in businesses that are critical to the growth and development of economies and communities. Our renewables coverage team shares insights on the sector and our recent investment in Reden Solar.

How did the team prepare to invest in renewable power?

Our program made its first stand-alone renewable energy investment in 2016 through Isagen, a hydroelectricity platform based in Colombia. In 2018, we tasked a small team to complete a strategic review of global opportunities in the renewable power sector that could provide attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns for our clients. The team looked at factors such as the maturity of the underlying technology, cashflow-generating capabilities, future development and growth expectations, and expected longer term capital requirements. We also considered ownership structures that would best meet the program’s goals. These structures include both indirect ownership through investment funds or passive vehicles, and direct ownership of a platform company with an established management team that would own, operate, and develop renewable power assets. We concluded that investing in mature, renewable power technologies through a platform company was the optimal structure to achieve appropriate risk-adjusted returns. We targeted opportunities to invest in platform companies led by skilled, experienced management teams. These opportunities would also remain cashflow positive through the ownership of operating assets and be primarily self-sustaining in terms of available capital required to develop and grow the business.

What made Reden Solar an attractive investment?

With this target investment profile, the team sourced the Reden Solar opportunity in 2021 and, after due diligence, determined that the company had the key characteristics we were seeking. With a highly experienced management team, Reden Solar has most of its focus in France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, and a smaller portion of its portfolio in key Latin American countries. Solar is expected to play a pivotal role in the evolution of clean energy in these jurisdictions. Given its operational base of approximately one gigawatt of solar facilities, the business is cash-flow sufficient and can scale over time. We are excited about this investment and keen to support its growing business.

What does this mean for BCI?

While Reden Solar is a sound financial investment, it also benefits our program in other ways, including increasing our knowledge in the sector. Reden Solar also diversifies our geographic presence and reduces the carbon intensity of our infrastructure & renewable resources portfolio. The experience gained through the Reden Solar transaction has helped the team when analyzing other investment opportunities. For example, through underwriting Reden Solar, we realized the importance of battery storage systems in the future of power grid development. As a result, we initiated a review of opportunities in the battery storage space and, in January 2023, BCI announced an investment in Eku Energy — a U.K.-based company focused on the development and operation of battery storage projects in the U.K., Australia, and other global markets.