Wednesday, October 20, 2010

AIMCo signs on to UNPRI

The Alberta Investment Management Corporation, with assets under management of $70 billion, has become the latest major Canadian pension plan to become a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment UNPRI).

AIMCo joins ten other Canadian institutional PRI signatories, including Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, British Columbia Municipal Pension Plan, OPSEU Pension Trust, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Pension Fund and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. Including investment asset managers and professional services partners, Canada has 34 signatories; the global total is 822, according to the PRI website.

Other recent PRI signatories include Thomson Reuters USA and U.S. asset management giant Capital Group International, which manages an estimated $1 trillion in assets under management. Capital is privately-held and largely eschews marketing, however it is considered one of the more mainstream asset managers who have signed on to the PRI. Capital offers a large group of mutual funds in Canada, skewed towards international equity products.

The UNPRI, established in 2005, provides a framework for investors to consider the growing view among investment professionals that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios.

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