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Former Canadian prime minister Harper eyed as Alberta pension chairman

By Paula Sambo, Layan Odeh and Dawn LimNovember 12, 2024 at 3:00PM EST

(Bloomberg) -- Alberta’s government has considered hiring former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to oversee its public pension fund manager, which is without a permanent board after all of its directors were fired last week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harper’s name has been circulating as a potential chair for Alberta Investment Management Corp. for a number of months, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private matters.

The role would give Harper influence to reshape an organization managing some C$169 billion ($121 billion) of public pension and other government money and with offices from Edmonton to London and New York. The former Conservative politician governed Canada from 2006 to 2015 and lives in the western province.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government is seeking major changes at Aimco and sacked Chief Executive Officer Evan Siddall and the board last week, saying the firm’s headcount and costs have swelled even as it managed a smaller portion of funds with its own staff. Aimco has more than 200 investment professionals and more than 600 employees in total, according to publicly available information.

Finance Minister Nate Horner is temporarily acting as Aimco’s chairman and sole director, and long-serving bureaucrat Ray Gilmour is interim CEO of the firm, which invests for dozens of pensions and government accounts, including the province’s sovereign wealth fund.

“Alberta’s government will be announcing the new chair of Aimco within the next couple weeks,” Ashley Stevenson, a government spokesperson, said in an emailed statement without commenting further.

Harper now runs Harper & Associates, which provides advice to businesses in the financial services, technology and energy sectors. The firm touts access to Harper’s global network and his experience as a former Group of Seven leader, according to his website. His office did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Aimco has been through several significant changes in recent years. The firm began a leadership overhaul after a bad bet against market volatility cost it C$2.1 billion when the pandemic roiled markets in 2020. The changes included appointing former BlackRock Inc. executive Mark Wiseman as chair later that year.

Wiseman then led the recruitment of new leadership, including Siddall as CEO. Wiseman stepped down at Aimco at the end of 2023. Chief Investment Officer Marlene Puffer left in September after less than two years in the job.

Under Siddall’s watch, Aimco’s investment team beat its benchmark in the three-year period ended Dec. 31, with its balanced fund returning 6.2% annualized, according to its annual report. The firm outperformed its benchmark in 2021 and 2022 but underperformed last year.

Aimco’s balanced fund earned a 5.6% net return in the first six months of this year.

Harper was first elected to Canada’s House of Commons in 1993, then later left politics to run a conservative organization before returning to seek the leadership of the Canadian Alliance party. That group later merged with another right-leaning party, and Harper ultimately led the Conservative Party of Canada to three straight election victories.

Siddall said on LinkedIn that he is “tying up loose ends, smelling wildflowers, reading, writing, playing guitar (badly), restoring my health and focusing on Sonia, our family and friends.” Siddall is married to Sonia Verma, a prominent Canadian journalist.