Investment Performance
chief investment officer Q&A
We delivered a solid absolute return while continuing to evolve our strategy and advance initiatives that strengthen how we construct and manage portfolios for clients.”
We certainly had our work cut out for us, navigating significant geopolitical tensions and trade policy volatility. Overall, we delivered a solid absolute return while continuing to evolve our strategy and advance initiatives that strengthen how we construct and manage portfolios for clients.
Our Balanced Fund returned 7.6% ($13.1 billion), supported by a constructive public market environment with global growth, strong earnings, and easing fiscal and monetary policy.
While the Balanced Fund return trailed its benchmark, longer-term results remained steady, with a 10-year annualized return of 7.2%. The benchmark gap in 2025 was primarily driven by a challenging year for private markets, combined with our use of public market-linked benchmarks within certain private asset classes.
The Public Equities & Absolute Return portfolio returned 18.6% in 2025 with our strategy and geographic mix contributing meaningfully to the results. Markets responded positively to investor confidence in artificial intelligence-related capital investment and improved earnings expectations.
The team spent much of the year working to price in an evolving tariff regime amid a very noisy backdrop. They remained focused on prudent risk management, rigorous due diligence across existing and prospective positions and exposures.
Private Debt & Loan was a standout, with a 7.9% return resulting in a 3.6 percentage point benchmark outperformance. The results reflect the diversified portfolio of predominantly senior secured, floating-rate exposures, a disciplined underwriting process, and portfolio construction focused on relative value.
Our Mortgages portfolio also performed well, returning 5.8%, 1.3 percentage points above the benchmark. That team was also busy deploying capital, logging its busiest year ever, by volume.
Public Fixed Income delivered a 1.0% return, ahead of its 0.9% benchmark. Yield curves steepened as front-end rates fell on expectations of policy easing, while credit spreads remained tight in a resilient economic environment.
Private equity activity remained muted amid tight liquidity, though portfolio company performance was generally steady. Private Equity returned 3.0% in 2025, with long-term results holding strong with a 10-year annualized return of 10.4%.
We are seeing early signs of stabilization in Real Estate, but progress remains uneven by geography and sector and that showed in the -2.2% return. Our efforts to reposition the portfolio continue.
Infrastructure and Renewable Resources returned 3.3% and -0.5%, respectively. Infrastructure continued to demonstrate defensive qualities and remains an important component of a diversified portfolio, performing well against inflation and rate pressures. Renewable Resources, a global portfolio of land-centric, high-quality timberland and agricultural assets, was impacted by regulatory uncertainty and volatility. Across both portfolios, active management and disciplined asset selection remain central to our approach, supported by strong partners and a long-term investment horizon.
My focus has been on understanding the portfolio’s current positioning and conducting a fulsome review of AIMCo’s Investment Strategy. We are sharpening our focus on AIMCo’s structural and developed capabilities — our sources of edge across the platform and teams — so we can best meet clients’ investment objectives. That includes initiatives to centralize key functions across the organization to strengthen liquidity and risk management. The objective is to improve transparency and coordination across asset classes, and to retain the flexibility to allocate capital when and where opportunities are most attractively priced.
2025 balanced fund INvestment performance
The AIMCo Total fund reflects the aggregate of all client accounts, including clients who exclusively choose fixed income and money market investments to achieve their objectives.
Asset Class Performance
Total AIMCo Fund Aggregate (1)
$190,422
7.5
9.9
8.9
5.7
7.4
7.5
12.3
6.9
(3.4)
14.7
Benchmark
10.2
12.0
10.9
6.6
6.9
10.2
13.8
8.7
(5.3)
8.0
Balanced Fund Aggregate
$187,335
7.6
10.1
9.4
5.7
7.7
7.6
12.6
8.0
(4.6)
16.2
Benchmark
10.3
11.8
11.0
6.5
6.9
10.3
13.4
9.3
(6.1)
8.9
Money Market and Fixed Income (2)
$56,505
2.8
3.7
5.0
1.6
1.0
2.8
4.6
7.7
(8.1)
(1.1)
Benchmark
1.9
3.1
4.6
0.9
0.3
1.9
4.2
7.6
(9.2)
(2.2)
Money Market & Fixed Income-Public
$38,832
1.0
2.1
4.0
0.2
-
1.0
3.2
7.9
(10.5)
-
Benchmark
0.9
2.0
3.6
(0.2)
-
0.9
3.1
7.0
(10.8)
-
Money Market (3)
$1,695
2.9
3.9
4.2
3.6
2.9
2.9
4.8
4.9
1.7
0.2
Benchmark
2.7
3.7
4.1
3.5
2.8
2.7
4.7
4.8
1.7
0.2
Universe Bonds
$19,951
2.9
3.8
5.1
0.6
0.0
2.9
4.6
7.8
(11.8)
(2.3)
Benchmark
2.6
3.4
4.5
0.2
(0.4)
2.6
4.2
6.7
(11.7)
(2.5)
Fixed Income Long-Term
$15,274
(1.7)
(0.8)
2.6
(4.5)
(4.6)
(1.7)
0.1
9.7
(23.0)
(4.8)
Benchmark
(1.7)
(0.8)
2.3
(4.6)
(4.7)
(1.7)
0.2
8.8
(22.6)
(5.1)
Real Return Bonds
$1,104
1.1
2.4
2.4
(2.0)
(1.3)
1.1
3.9
2.4
(14.2)
1.7
Benchmark
0.9
2.3
2.2
(2.2)
(1.4)
0.9
3.7
2.0
(14.3)
1.8
Segregated Assets - Long Term
$430
3.7
4.3
4.7
2.2
1.5
3.7
4.9
5.7
(5.1)
(1.2)
Benchmark
3.6
4.0
4.4
2.0
1.3
3.6
4.5
5.0
(4.8)
(1.2)
Short and Mid-Term Bonds (4)
$367
3.5
-
-
-
-
3.5
-
-
-
-
Benchmark
3.5
-
-
-
-
3.5
-
-
-
-
Mortgages
$7,601
5.8
6.1
5.6
2.8
2.5
5.8
6.4
4.5
(5.0)
1.2
Benchmark
4.5
5.1
5.4
2.4
1.7
4.5
5.8
6.0
(6.1)
(1.1)
Private Debt and Loan
$10,072
7.9
8.3
8.7
8.1
8.2
7.9
8.7
9.6
6.2
8.5
Benchmark
4.3
6.2
8.0
5.9
4.5
4.3
8.0
11.8
(0.1)
(0.9)
Public Equities & Absolute Return (2)
$70,222
18.6
21.6
19.7
11.4
13.7
18.6
24.7
15.8
(10.0)
23.4
Benchmark
19.1
21.8
19.8
11.3
12.6
19.1
24.6
15.9
(10.6)
18.1
Public Equities
$66,266
19.4
22.5
20.3
11.9
14.1
19.4
25.7
16.1
(10.0)
23.4
Benchmark
20.0
22.7
20.5
11.8
13.0
20.0
25.5
16.1
(10.6)
18.1
Canadian Equity
$11,679
25.9
22.8
19.0
12.5
15.9
25.9
19.8
11.7
(5.1)
30.5
Benchmark
31.7
26.6
21.4
13.9
16.1
31.7
21.7
11.8
(5.8)
25.1
Global Equity
$42,877
16.3
23.2
22.3
12.9
15.4
16.3
30.6
20.5
(11.4)
26.2
Benchmark
15.4
22.2
21.6
12.1
13.8
15.4
29.4
20.5
(12.2)
20.8
Emerging Market Equity
$9,171
27.3
21.4
16.7
7.9
6.5
27.3
15.8
7.7
(14.7)
1.0
Benchmark
27.3
22.2
16.8
8.1
5.7
27.3
17.3
6.9
(14.3)
(3.4)
Global Small Cap Equity
$2,539
12.4
15.7
14.8
8.7
11.4
12.4
19.2
12.9
(7.8)
22.8
Benchmark
14.3
16.1
14.9
7.3
8.7
14.3
18.0
12.7
(12.9)
14.8
Absolute Return (5)
$3,956
7.0
7.8
6.6
-
-
7.0
8.6
4.2
-
-
Benchmark
5.3
6.4
5.7
-
-
5.3
7.4
4.2
-
-
Private Equities (6)
$14,123
3.0
7.3
7.1
5.4
15.8
3.0
11.8
6.7
0.5
68.5
Benchmark
17.7
20.7
17.1
13.7
12.7
17.7
23.9
10.1
4.2
8.8
Real Estate
$22,580
(2.2)
(2.1)
(4.3)
(2.1)
1.0
(2.2)
(2.0)
(8.4)
4.6
14.5
Benchmark
2.8
4.0
1.4
1.5
2.7
2.8
5.2
(3.6)
1.8
7.8
Infrastructure
$22,684
3.3
7.6
6.3
8.8
10.8
3.3
12.0
3.8
16.8
19.0
Benchmark
8.1
8.0
8.0
8.0
7.8
8.1
7.8
8.0
8.2
6.8
Renewable Resources
$3,956
(0.5)
0.7
1.0
6.7
8.3
(0.5)
1.9
1.6
25.7
15.0
Benchmark
8.2
8.1
8.1
8.0
7.8
8.2
8.0
8.0
7.7
6.8
AIMCo Strategic Opportunities Pool
$130
(1.0)
0.3
5.0
(2.3)
(2.4)
(1.0)
1.7
15.0
(21.3)
(2.9)
Benchmark
15.4
22.2
21.6
12.1
13.8
15.4
29.4
20.5
(12.2)
20.8
- Total AIMCo Fund calculations do not include $4.3 billion of assets that do not meet the required conditions for inclusion in AIMCo's excess returns as of December 31, 2025.
- Market Value does not include Tactical & Overlay Program notional exposures.
- Market Value does not include cash held by AIMCo investment pools except $7.1 million from two Private Equity pools that hold Venture Capital and Relationship Investing assets.
- Short and Mid Term Bond is a new asset class as of January 7, 2025.
- Absolute Return inception date is June 1, 2023.
- Private Equities include Core Private Equities, Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Private Equity, Relationship Investing and Venture Capital.
performance Benchmarks
Money Market and Fixed Income
Money Market (1)
Universe Bonds
Long-Term Bonds
Mortgages
Real Return Bonds
Private Debt and Loan (2)
Short and Mid-Term Bonds (3)
Segregated Assets - Long Term
Equities
Absolute Return
Canadian Equities
Global Equities
Emerging Markets Equities
Global Small Cap Equities
Private Markets
Private Equity (4)
Private Equity, ATRF
Real Estate, Canadian
Real Estate, Foreign (5)
Real Estate, ATRF (6)
Infrastructure
Infrastructure, ATRF
Infrastructure, Energy Opportunities
Renewable Resources
AIMCo Strategic Opportunities
Tactical Asset Allocation Overlays
1. Prior to October 3, 2022, benchmark was the FTSE Canada 91-Day T-bill Index.
2. Prior to January 1, 2022, benchmark was the FTSE Canada Short-Term Overall Index.
3. Short and Mid-Term bond benchmark was added as of January 7, 2025.
4. Prior to July 1, 2024, benchmark was Total CPI 1 Month Lagged + 650 bps (5-year rolling average).
5. From January 9, 2018, to January 1, 2025, benchmark was MSCI Global Region Property Index.
6. Prior to September 1, 2022, benchmark was MSCI Global Property Fund Index (hedged to CAD).
Asset Class Overviews
Public Equities & Absolute Return
Purpose
The Public Equities platform is a diversified and liquid set of portfolios that provide Canadian, global developed, global small cap and emerging markets equities exposures, as well as an absolute return portfolio. The platform is designed to support clients’ investment needs by providing capital growth, liquidity, inflation protection and capital preservation. Clients allocate across a suite of products, which are invested in underlying strategies. Allocations to underlying strategies are optimized across several dimensions, including factors, sector, market capitalization, and regional exposures, tailored to the specific requirements of the products.
Results
2025 was an uneven year for public equity markets, jostled by an array of dynamic technological and geopolitical developments. Across the year, equity markets sought to price in an oscillating global tariff regime, shifting regional trade alliances, a currency debasement thematic that propelled gold to all-time highs, and the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) from a ‘one-decision’ investment thematic to a more discerning focus on cost versus benefit. As uncertainty gave way to muted clarity following the Trump Administration’s Liberation Day announcements, equity markets rallied powerfully through much of the balance of 2025, delivering attractive equity returns across Global Developed, Canada, and Emerging Markets. Navigating a volatile landscape, absolute return managers demonstrated agility in maintaining low net exposure to markets by producing some of the best alpha contributions from hedge fund partners since the global financial crisis.
Volatility became the new norm in 2025, as public equity markets pivoted from the tariff shock to a focus on corporate adaptability, supply chain resets, and elements of reshoring. Rising interest rates and banking system resilience pushed financials higher, while the global technology sector surged past post-tariff uncertainty driven by the persistent expansion of AI infrastructure. Market concentration remained a significant narrative, no doubt accentuated by a flight to fortress-like balance sheets during the height of tariff uncertainty in the second quarter. Indeed, the ten largest global companies generated over 70% of market total return for 2025, yet almost 40% of individual stocks globally ended the year in negative territory, when adjusted for inflation.
Public Equities and Absolute Return products delivered strong total returns in 2025 but collectively lagged the composite benchmark by 0.5 percentage points. The Global Equities Master Pool generated a strong annual return of 16.3%, with 0.9 percentage points of excess return. On a four-year annualized basis, the pool provided an annual return of 12.9%, with an excess return of 0.8 percentage points. The Canadian Equities Master Pool returned 25.9%, an impressive result in absolute terms, yet detracting by 5.8 percentage points relative to its benchmark. The Emerging Markets Master Pool generated a return of 27.3%, the Global Small Cap Equity Pool returned 12.4% and the Absolute Return Master Pool returned 7.0%. Global Developed Equities remained the largest contributor to overall value-add over the year, while Canadian Equities detracted the most.
Across AIMCo’s strategies, most strategy pillars delivered attractive returns. Significant contributions came from external systematic managers (across geographies), internal alpha strategies, internal fundamental (particularly in global), and external portable alpha. In general, strategies with underweight allocations to materials (especially in Canada) and — once again — information technology yielded to the multi-year dominance of mega-cap companies through much of 2025.
Looking Ahead
Several of the key thematic drivers of 2025 are expected to endure through 2026. Projected AI-related 2026 capital spending of the five largest hyperscalers is equivalent to the total market capitalization of Belgium or Denmark (or the GDP of Sweden), requiring a global “shadow grid” of infrastructure. Productivity dividends are already evident in our everyday lives, but markets are more appropriately focused on return on investment. Elsewhere, we are seeing equity capital markets activities (IPOs, private placements, secondaries, etc.) pick up after a relatively dormant period post-pandemic, and we expect volumes to continue. The Middle East is once again an investor flashpoint, with implications across risk assets and commodities. We expect more moderate returns from public equities in 2026 given elevated valuations in developed equities (particularly in the United States), inflationary concerns, and geopolitical uncertainty.
Money Market & Fixed Income
Purpose
The Money Market & Fixed Income portfolios are designed to provide clients with capital preservation, liquidity, diversification, liability hedging, inflation protection and superior, risk-controlled returns relative to their respective benchmarks.
We actively manage and add value to the portfolios in four principal ways:
- Anticipating interest rates and positioning duration accordingly
- Anticipating the term structure of interest rates
- Active investment and positioning of credit exposures in various credit markets — public, structured finance, and private markets
- Active individual security selection across fixed income markets
The team manages portfolios with global investments seeking diversified return and manages risk through prudent duration, curve, sector, geographic, issuer, and structural selection.
Results
Money Market
The Money Market Pool provided an excess net return of 0.2 percentage points with favourable positioning in duration relative to its benchmark with total returns of 2.9% for the portfolio. The Bank of Canada (BoC) began 2025 concerned about a protracted trade conflict and a soft labour market in Canada. The Governing Council reduced the policy rate early in the year, continuing the easing trend from late 2024, before again re-initiating further easing late in the year as trade concerns were realized. The BoC easing of 1.00% compared to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 0.75% through the year was less predictable than most easing cycles given the high degree of uncertainty around trade, business investment and federal policy response.
Public Fixed Income
Total return for clients largely reflected where they were situated on the yield curve, with shorter maturity exposure earning a higher return in comparison to that of longer maturities.
Excess returns for the Universe Bond portfolio were modest for the year but still exhibited solid returns over a four-year horizon. The steepening of the yield curve was a net positive, as the sharp decline in shorter maturity yields more than offset the impact of the rise in longer maturity yields. Two-year Canadian sovereign yields fell from 2.93% to 2.58%, while 30-year yields moved up from 3.33% to 3.86%. By year-end, the yield curve had returned to a more normal, positive slope, setting the stage for modest returns in benign economic conditions.
Long bonds underperformed shorter-maturity bonds due to the steepening of the yield curve throughout the year. Continued concerns over fiscal sustainability and inflationary concerns had the greatest impact to this sector, as investors focused on the prospect of higher government bond issuances and lower real returns.
Real Return Bonds
Real Return Bonds modestly outperformed nominal bonds and delivered positive returns over the year. Both real yields and breakeven inflation remained largely rangebound, with performance reflecting initial real yield levels combined with realized inflation. Trading activity in outstanding Real Return Bonds was subdued, as the Government of Canada’s suspension of new issuance continued to limit market liquidity.
Private Debt & Loan
The Private Debt & Loan portfolio delivered outstanding performance in 2025, generating a net return of 7.9%, outperforming its benchmark by 3.6 percentage points. Strong performance was driven by building a diversified portfolio of predominantly senior secured, floating rate private credit, disciplined underwriting throughout cycles, and prudent portfolio construction focusing on relative value. Over the past four years, the portfolio has grown substantially in AUM driven by increasing allocations from AIMCo’s clients. More importantly, Private Debt & Loan delivered a four-year annualized return of 8.1%, outperforming the benchmark by 2.2 percentage points, fulfilling the portfolio’s role as a higher-yielding, lower-volatility debt product with superior absolute return as well as consistent excess return on a risk-adjusted basis.
Private Mortgages
The portfolio plays a core fixed-income role, providing stable contractual income, capital preservation and meaningful diversification benefits through its low correlation to other asset classes, while capturing an illiquidity and complexity premium unavailable in public markets. With a 5.8% return in 2025, the portfolio outperformed its benchmark by 1.3 percentage points driven primarily by strong contractual income and tightening commercial mortgage spreads.
With a 4-year annualized performance of 2.8%, the portfolio has established itself as a steady, risk-efficient return generator.
With a 4-year annualized performance of 2.8%, the portfolio has established itself as a steady, risk-efficient return generator.
Looking Ahead
Entering 2026, the public Fixed Income portfolios remain lightly positioned, with low active risk utilization. Credit positioning remains cautious, while duration exposure is maintained close to benchmark. Deployment across existing core‑plus strategies continues, complemented by the addition of new investment strategies, aimed at delivering durable value across a broad range of market environments. Given heightened geopolitical uncertainty and its potential implications for inflation and global economic growth, this measured approach preserves flexibility, enabling the portfolios to remain nimble and responsive to evolving economic, inflationary, and market conditions.
The Private Debt & Loan team remains focused on disciplined deployment in keeping with the investment strategy. Should the market environment remain challenging, the experienced team is well equipped to manage the risk while capitalizing on the opportunities in a range of credit products during periods of volatility. The team continues to prioritize credit selection, portfolio diversification, and a partnership business model to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns.
The Mortgages team will continue to build investment capabilities in growing areas of the commercial mortgage market. The team maintains disciplined underwriting while seeking opportunities with the best relative value across asset classes and geographies.
Real Estate
Purpose
AIMCo’s Real Estate portfolio delivers long‑term value by providing clients with diversified exposure to income‑producing and growth‑oriented properties across key sectors and global markets.
The program invests in high‑quality industrial, residential, retail, office, and select alternative assets across Canada’s major cities and international markets, including the U.K, Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific. Real Estate supports the total fund through stable income, diversification, and partial inflation protection while disciplined underwriting, active management, and strong local partnerships enable sustainable capital appreciation across market cycles.
Results
In 2025, AIMCo’s Real Estate portfolio continued to adjust following the significant repricing of private real assets in recent years. While capital markets remained cautious amid elevated interest rates, operating fundamentals across much of the portfolio proved resilient. Leasing activity, occupancy, and cash flow generation remained stable, though recovery in asset values continued to be uneven across sectors and geographies. Against this backdrop, the Real Estate portfolio delivered negative performance for the year, reflecting ongoing appraisal pressure partially offset by improving income returns.
The Canadian Real Estate portfolio generated a return of ‑1.6%, compared to a benchmark return of 0.9%, and ended the year with a net asset value of approximately $13.2 billion. The portfolio remained anchored by core, income‑producing assets held through long‑standing joint venture relationships. Institutional‑quality properties with stable tenant bases supported income generation, while capitalization rate expansion continued to weigh on valuations. Retail and industrial assets demonstrated relative resilience, supported by necessity‑based tenants, low vacancy, and stable demand. In contrast, residential assets faced pressure from higher operating costs and localized leasing challenges. The office sector remained bifurcated, with well‑located, high‑quality assets outperforming the broader market.
The Foreign Real Estate portfolio generated a return of ‑1.6% in 2025, compared to a benchmark return of 5.5%, and ended the year with a net asset value of approximately $8.0 billion. Performance was negatively impacted by continued underperformance across U.S. assets, particularly in the office, studio, and select residential sectors. While parts of the portfolio in Europe delivered stronger performance, these gains were insufficient to offset U.S. focused pressures. Foreign results were also adversely affected by mark‑to‑market movements on foreign exchange hedging positions.
Overall, AIMCo’s Real Estate portfolio generated a return of ‑2.2%, compared to a benchmark return of 2.8%. Over the five‑year period, Canadian Real Estate achieved an annualized return of 2.9% versus 2.2% for the benchmark, while Foreign Real Estate achieved an annualized return of ‑0.6% compared to a benchmark return of 3.1%, reflecting the differing risk profiles across the two programs.
Looking Ahead
The Real Estate team will remain focused on disciplined execution as capital markets continue to adjust following several years of repricing. The portfolio will prioritize high‑quality, income‑producing assets across sectors and geographies where fundamentals are resilient, and valuations are supported by long‑term demand.
Active portfolio management, including leasing, capital allocation, and selective repositioning, will remain central to enhancing asset performance. While investor sentiment toward real estate remains cautious, improving liquidity and broader engagement across markets are expected to support a gradual normalization of transaction activity.
Infrastructure
Purpose
AIMCo Infrastructure investments are made in real assets that typically provide an essential service which, over the long term, are expected to generate stable, inflation-linked cashflows for our clients. The portfolio consists primarily of diversified long-term, equity-oriented positions in assets with high barriers to entry, regulated returns or long-term contracted revenues such as utilities, energy infrastructure and transportation.
Results
In 2025, the Infrastructure portfolio return was 3.3%, which while positive, underperformed the one-year benchmark. Despite last year’s volatile macro environment, the portfolio was able to deliver stable, positive performance while advancing key strategic initiatives that enhanced portfolio resilience, reduced concentration risk, and generated realizations for clients. On a longer-term basis, the Infrastructure portfolio continues to generate strong absolute and excess returns, demonstrating the portfolio’s ability to deliver solid financial and operating results through market cycles. The portfolio’s long-term outperformance is reflective of the high-quality assets across targeted sectors and geographies that make up the portfolio.
Several of the infrastructure investments in the portfolio contributed positively to the overall asset class performance in 2025, including notable returns from Cando Rail and Terminals and DIG Airgas. Additionally, several significant portfolio monetizations were completed during the year. Most notably the partial sale of Howard Energy Partners, previously the portfolio’s largest single exposure, reduced concentration risk while delivering attractive returns and introducing a new strategic partner. Additional realizations, including exits from DIG Airgas and London City Airport, crystallized value and supported disciplined capital recycling.
The Infrastructure team remained focused on successfully executing asset management initiatives to unlock value in 2025. Additionally, year‑end valuations across several of the portfolio’s largest investments reflected improved cash‑flow forecasts, regulatory progress, and advancement of key development and expansion milestones, positioning the portfolio to capture and benefit from future value creation opportunities. Lastly, the Infrastructure team continued to screen numerous opportunities from our pipeline and transacted on several new investments in 2025. These included several investments focused on the Asia-Pacific region.
Looking Ahead
We continue to view infrastructure as a foundational building block to our portfolio allocations, offering durable cashflows, inflation protection, and diversification benefits. Structural demand drivers — most notably AI‑related electricity growth, electrification, onshoring, and digitalization — are accelerating long‑term capital needs across power generation, transmission, and digital infrastructure. While near‑to‑medium‑term economic and policy uncertainty remains elevated, private investment in infrastructure is expected to remain robust over the longer term, supported by these secular trends.
Looking forward, the Infrastructure portfolio is well positioned to deploy into high‑conviction opportunities. Supported by strong governance rights and active ownership across our largest investments, the Infrastructure team remains focused on protecting downside risk while seeking attractive, risk‑adjusted returns for clients over the long term.
Private Equity
Purpose
AIMCo’s Private Equity program invests across two primary strategies — Fund Investments and Direct & Co-Investment opportunities. The team selectively invests with top performing private equity firms globally and builds deep and lasting relationships with these partners. Investments are made across a broad range of sectors including Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials, and Information Technology. The Private Equity team will also invest in secondary opportunities as part of its core strategy.
Results
The Core Private Equity* portfolio was $11.9 billion in size as of December 31 and generated a return of 4.5% in 2025, underperforming the benchmark by 12.9 percentage points. Benchmark performance was robust as public markets surged in the latter half of 2025 due to positive momentum following initial tariff discussions in April 2025. While this led to lower relative performance of the Private Equity portfolio, positive absolute total return of the program reflects the benefits of a globally diversified portfolio that is underpinned by top performing and proven fund managers and complemented by high-quality co-investment opportunities. An overall focus on long-term, net risk-adjusted returns played a critical role in maintaining a steady Private Equity portfolio in 2025.
On a longer-term basis the asset class continues to generate consistent absolute total returns, with a 6.0% 4-year annualized net return. While this underperformed benchmark by 7.6 percentage points on a relative basis in light of strong public market returns, performance was driven by a highly selective set of co-investments that delivered superior net returns, and continued positive performance from fund commitments in well-established large and middle-market buyout funds in North America, Europe and Asia.
Looking Ahead
Global private equity transaction volumes recovered in 2025, driven in part by cooling inflation and interest rate stabilization from elevated levels seen in 2024. Much of this increase, however, was led by megadeals valued at US$10 billion or above, leaving a sizable number of companies in private equity portfolios still waiting for exits. Creativity to deliver liquidity has increased, with dividend recapitalizations, continuation vehicles, and minority sales being leveraged in addition to more traditional exit routes of trade sales, sponsor sales, and IPOs.
Entering 2026, pressure remains on managers to deliver liquidity to Limited Partners to demonstrate a track record of successful exits and validate performance. Managers are expected to continue to invest in value creation capabilities to drive portfolio company growth, and implementation of artificial intelligence initiatives is expected to be at the forefront of this change. Top performing companies will likely continue to find exit markets in 2026, but challenges will remain for assets outside of this top tier, continuing to place pressure on overall returns. Selection of top performing fund managers and co-investments will be critical to driving performance in the Private Equity portfolio in the years ahead.
*All return information is exclusive of ATRF’s segregated account; as well as Relationship Investing and Venture Capital as those are deemed non-core. Information inclusive of that performance is available in the Asset Class Performance Table.
Renewable Resources
Purpose
AIMCo’s Renewable Resources program comprises a global portfolio of land-centric, high-quality timberland and agricultural assets that are characterized by their low correlation to traditional asset classes, inflation-hedging qualities, and a strong match with client time horizons. Renewable resources assets serve to provide capital preservation, current yield, and real asset appreciation. The Renewable Resources program is concentrated in developed market countries with an opportunistic view on emerging market exposure. Flexibility is ingrained into the Renewable Resources mandate, which allows the team to maximize long-term value by optimizing portfolio assets between timberland, agriculture, and strategic investments along the value chain.
Results
The Renewable Resources portfolio returned -0.5% in 2025, falling short of the portfolio benchmark return. Though each sector and region faces a unique operating environment, renewable resources assets globally faced generally challenging conditions driven by high interest rates, weak commodity markets, and persistently high input costs.
During the year, the team worked closely with operating partners on cost discipline, capital allocation, and liquidity management, while continuing to assess asset‑level strategic alternatives where appropriate. At Forestry Investment Trust, the largest timberland investment in the Renewable Resources portfolio, weak Asian pulp demand and elevated operating costs continued to pressure incomes and valuations. In response, the team worked with management on reducing near‑term operating costs and improving cost flexibility, with the objective of preserving asset value and positioning the business to benefit from a long-term market recovery.
Though the difficult conditions put a strain on the operating returns of most enterprises, the impact on appraised values were less consistent as a clear “flight to quality” was observed where the value gap between the highest quality, most productive assets and those of lesser quality has continued to widen. The Lawson Grains business, one of Australia’s largest corporate farming enterprises, was a clear beneficiary of this trend in 2025.
Despite a slight loss in 2025, the long-term performance of the Renewable Resources program remains strong, with the 10-year return exceeding the portfolio benchmark by more than 2 percentage points. The recent flattening in returns reflects the challenging market conditions described, which matches a pattern commonly observed in renewable resources where appraised land values tend to adjust in large step-changes during periods of strong appreciation that are then followed by periods of subdued or flat valuations until market conditions improve. The long-term outlook for the asset class remains strong as investor interest in natural capital continues to grow and alternative revenue streams associated with large-scale land ownership continue to increase.
Looking Ahead
The Renewable Resources team is focused on pursuing investment opportunities which will increase the crop-type and geographic diversification of the portfolio. The team is also collaborating closely with its investment partners and portfolio company management teams to maximize the long-term value of existing assets through the implementation of highest and best use initiatives and strategic investments which will increase productivity and overall portfolio resilience.