British Columbia's $183 Billion Fund Inks 45 Deals in Six Months

Mint

5 hours ago

(Bloomberg) -- British Columbia Investment Management Corp. signed 45 deals during the past six months as the pension fund manager exploits the uncertainty in the market.
'All our asset classes are below the target allocations and have room to deploy,' Ramy Rayes, executive vice president of investment strategy and risk, said in an interview. 'While others might be stalling, we see good opportunities and good value too.'
The money manager decided to 'start moving within the capital stack' across most of its asset classes, investing in infrastructure debt, convertible preferred shares within private equity and asset-backed lending.
'Right now being just in the equity sleeve or just purely in the debt sleeve may not get you the perfect risk-adjusted return,' Rayes said. Instead, BCI is investing in hybrid assets to maximize return and create downside protection, he said.
Since the beginning of 2025, BCI has done 13 deals, while its real estate subsidiary QuadReal Property Group signed 32 pacts, Rayes said. Those investments include a take-private of Luxembourg-based BBGI Global Infrastructure SA and buying Maple Leaf Self Storage, a chain based in Western Canada.
The fund's infrastructure holdings notched an 8.3% gain in the fiscal year ended March 31, while investments in private equity and private debt earned 13.4% and 10.2%, respectively.
Overall, the pension fund manager returned 10% in the fiscal year, missing its benchmark of 12.3% and bringing net assets to C$251.6 billion ($183.3 billion), according to a statement Wednesday.
BCI cut its US exposure to about 39% last year from 43.4% the previous year as it sold part of its equity portfolio, which is typically heavily tilted toward the country, Rayes said. The pension fund manager is also allocating capital to less volatile regions such as Europe and Asia amid President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies.
Rayes said uncertainty about the world's largest economy means investors will either bid lower for assets or require higher growth to compensate. 'We might start underwriting a transaction in the beginning of the year; things change, the uncertainty increases and you get out,' he said. 'Pens down on the transaction.'
While Trump's proposed so-called revenge tax has been delayed and revised by the US Senate, it adds another layer of unease. Known as Section 899, the provision has non-US investors worried that it could make investing in the country more expensive.
BCI has done its own scenario analysis on the revenge tax. 'For our total portfolio at BCI, we could have an impact of 15 basis points as it stands today,' Rayes said, explaining that the final number may be zero in some cases but much higher in others.
BCI, which invests the retirement savings of British Columbia's public sector workers, increased its exposure to Canada by seven percentage points to 37.8% during the year. That was driven by an increased allocation to the country's government bonds, private debt and real estate. Rayes said BCI would be interested in investing in Canadian infrastructure, such as airports.
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