{"id":7844,"date":"2025-07-19T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/7844\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T10:44:09","slug":"alberta-adds-2-8-billion-to-heritage-fund-expands-board-of-new-oversight-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/7844\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta adds $2.8-billion to Heritage Fund, expands board of new oversight corporation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest addition to the fund is made up of $2.6-billion drawn from the province\u2019s surplus, with an additional $200-million from the government.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s government has contributed $2.8-billion to a provincial wealth fund that now stands at $30-billion and fleshed out the board of directors for a new corporation that was set up to make the fund grow faster. <\/p>\n

Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s government created the new Crown corporation, called the Heritage Fund Opportunities Corp., or HFOC, late last year. It will oversee a plan<\/a> announced in January that aims to boost the assets held by the province\u2019s Heritage Savings Trust Fund to at least $250-billion by 2050.<\/p>\n

The new infusion of cash, announced Friday by Ms. Smith and Finance Minister Nate Horner, was made up of $2.6-billion drawn from the province\u2019s surplus, with an additional $200-million from the government to bring the fund\u2019s assets to $30-billion.<\/p>\n

The Heritage Fund was established in 1976 by former premier Peter Lougheed and has been invested by the province\u2019s main pension fund manager, the Alberta Investment Management Corp., or AIMCo. The fund was created as a provincial backstop to fill future gaps left by declining revenue from oil and gas royalties.<\/p>\n

For now, AIMCo will still manage most of the $30-billion in Heritage Fund assets, but the HFOC will own the assets, advise AIMCo and invest the fund\u2019s newest pools of cash with a sovereign wealth fund-style approach. <\/p>\n

AIMCo promotes Justin Lord to chief investment officer, will lead revamped investing mandate<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta appoints former prime minister Stephen Harper to chair AIMCo board<\/a><\/p>\n

The province has framed the HFOC as a step to \u201cmodernize the fund\u2019s management.\u201d Where AIMCo\u2019s investments are governed by the risk tolerance and liquidity needs of a pension fund with obligations to retirees, Mr. Horner said the HFOC should eventually be able to make bigger-ticket investments with a freer hand. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that there would be potential for enormous opportunities to have an expert, arm\u2019s length agency like HFOC that could not only advise AIMCo on how to invest their portion of the Heritage Fund assets, but would also have the opportunity to invest in different ways,\u201d he said. \u201cBy being separate, they\u2019re able to have more dry powder on the sidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Heritage Fund grows, it will be up to HFOC to decide how to invest new funds, through its own deals or through AIMCo. <\/p>\n

The province previously named Joe Lougheed, a Calgary-based partner at the Dentons law firm, as chair of the HFOC. On Friday, the government announced five additional board members: deputy finance minister and AIMCo director Kate White, Switzerland-based Jacqueline Curzon, Finnish businessman Jouko Karvinen, Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp. chief executive Chana Martineau, and Alberta-based corporate director Mary Ritchie. <\/p>\n

The province expects to eventually expand the board to 11 members.<\/p>\n

To set up the HFOC, the government has relied on help from investment consulting firm PNYX Group, and the newest pot of funds is invested in basic short-term financial instruments for now. <\/p>\n

Once the HFOC is established, it is possible it could take over control of more of the Heritage Fund money currently managed by AIMCo, but \u201conly if it proves itself, if they\u2019re finding greater returns than AIMCo,\u201d Mr. Horner said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of why I like this process: They would have to prove it first,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

AIMCo manages $180-billion of assets for 17 pension, endowment, insurance and government clients, and has global offices and experienced investment teams. The province overhauled AIMCo\u2019s leadership late last year in an abrupt purge<\/a> of senior executives and board members. <\/p>\n

At times, previous governments in Alberta have dipped into the Heritage Fund to pay for spending priorities, but the current government\u2019s fiscal framework dictates that investment income must be reinvested, allowing the fund to compound more quickly. <\/p>\n

If Alberta succeeds in increasing the Heritage Fund to $250-billion \u2013 Mr. Horner said the government\u2019s projections suggest it could reach $270-billion by 2050 \u2013 future governments could withdraw some income to \u201coffset any decreases we may experience in resource royalties,\u201d he said at Friday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The latest addition to the fund is made up of $2.6-billion drawn from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-7844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}