The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario reached $70.3 billion in assets under management at the end of 2019, up from $63.3 billion at the end of 2018.
In its latest annual report, the organization, which manages assets for certain broader public sector institutions, shared its growth in assets under management, but didn’t report its 2019 investment returns.
“It’s important to mention that the portfolios of current clients were managed on a segregated basis in 2019,” said Bert Clark, president and chief executive officer of the IMCO, in the report. “This approach was embedded in our business strategy from the beginning in order to give IMCO time to develop investment strategies and to facilitate the development of investment pools. Therefore, our clients will report their 2019 results independently of IMCO. We have started to provide our clients with more comprehensive portfolio construction advice and, in 2020, we will shift client assets to align with IMCO investment strategies.”
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During 2019, the IMCO reduced the number of external managers it works with by 25 per cent, moved $6.8 billion in global equities into lower-cost factor- and index-based strategies and saw a net cost savings of $14 million.
Among its current investments, public equities make up the largest chunk at 36 per cent, followed by fixed income and government bonds (21 per cent), real estate (16 per cent), public market alternatives (13 per cent), infrastructure (eight per cent), global credit (three per cent) and private equity (three per cent).
Almost half (48 per cent) of the IMCO’s investments are Canadian, 29 per cent are U.S.-based, 10 per cent are European, 10 per cent are Asian and three per cent are in non-Asian emerging markets.
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“In 2019, the board approved IMCO’s 2020 business plan,” said Brian Gibson, chair of the IMCO’s board of directors, in the report. “It is an ambitious yet realistic blueprint and builds on the progress made to date. It lays out IMCO’s investment approach to transforming all asset classes, as well as the organization’s goal of adding new public sector clients.”
Indeed, earlier this month, the IMCO announced the Provincial Judges’ Pension Plan was joining as a new client with $420 million in assets under management.