OMERS appoints Michael Ryder to infrastructure arm

The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has appointed Michael Ryder as a senior managing director and head of Americas for its infrastructure arm, OMERS Infrastructure.

Based in New York, Ryder joins OMERS from the Blackstone Group where he was a senior managing director with Blackstone Energy Partners. In the role, he led the firm’s midstream energy and oilfield services investment strategy. Prior to that role, Ryder was a managing director in the private equity team at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners.

Read: A look at the Canada Infrastructure Bank

At OMERS, Ryder’s focus on energy will play an important role for the infrastructure group as its interest grows in related opportunities, a spokesperson told Benefits Canada in an email.

“We are excited to welcome Michael to OMERS and look forward to the additional strength his sector expertise, leadership and investment experience will bring to our team as we expand on the track record of success we have established across our global portfolio,” noted the spokesperson.

In April 2017, OMERS made its first foray into South America with the purchase of a stake in GNL Quintero S.A., a Chilean land-based terminal dedicated to the receiving, unloading, storage and regasification of liquid natural gas.

Read: OMERS enters into infrastructure investment in Chile