Alberta Investment Management Corp. has shuttered its international offices in New York and Singapore in its first major move since the Alberta government shook up the board and management at the province’s major investment manager and appointed former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper as chair.

“AIMCo has made the decision to close its offices in New York and Singapore as part of a strategic realignment of resources to better serve our clients,” spokesperson Carolyn Quick said.

“The decision follows a careful evaluation of the operational costs and the overall impact on our investment objectives. We are confident in our ability to maintain a strong global presence and will continue to fulfill our purpose through our other offices.”

In addition to the office closures, AIMCo has parted ways with two senior investment managers.

Quick confirmed that David Scudellari, a senior executive hired with much fanfare in 2023 to ramp up private credit investments, has also parted ways with AIMCo. He was recruited from the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and his portfolio was expanded in September to include overseeing global private assets, such as private credit, infrastructure, real estate and private equity, following the departure of chief investment officer Marlene Puffer.

AIMCo’s newest international offices in New York and Singapore were opened over the past couple of years under former chief executive Evan Siddall, who was fired in November as part of a stunning shakeup that also removed the entire AIMCo board. Three of the directors were then brought back and Harper was named chair. Ray Gilmour, a top Alberta government bureaucrat, was installed as interim CEO. 

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner said the shakeup was undertaken because AIMCo’s costs had dramatically risen and returns had not kept up, a narrative that was disputed point by point in a letter sent to him by former chair Kenneth Kroner.

Sources said that friction had been building between AIMCo and the government for months, with one of the tension points being the government’s unhappiness with the investment manager’s international expansion, which included expensive real estate and was viewed as drawing well-paid investment jobs away from Alberta.

The New York office was opened in 2024, and Siddall at the time said having a physical presence in important financial markets would greatly enhance how investments were sourced, evaluated and ultimately executed. He said the international offices were necessary to further diversify the asset mix for AIMCo clients, which include the Alberta government.

Siddall said the investment manager had “a significant client mandate” to expand AIMCo’s private credit portfolio and that having a team based in Manhattan would help accelerate those efforts.

The Singapore office was opened in 2023. Kevin Bong, a veteran investment executive brought in to run the office, is no longer with AIMCo, Quick said.

With the closures, AIMCo, which invests on behalf of a variety of pension, endowment and government funds in Alberta, now has five offices: Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, London and Luxembourg.

• Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com

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