AIMCo Maintains U.S. Investment Strategy Despite Trade Tensions, CIO Confirms
Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) has no intention of reducing its exposure to United States assets or private credit holdings, despite ongoing trade tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns about souring loans in certain private market segments. This strategic stance was confirmed by Justin Lord, AIMCo's chief investment officer, who emphasized the institutional investor's commitment to its current allocation levels.
Private Credit Opportunities Amid Negative Sentiment
In fact, negative sentiment in the private credit market could potentially lead the Alberta-based asset manager to increase its holdings in this asset class, even though it has already reached its target exposure. Lord explained that illiquidity, negative sentiment, and widening spreads are creating potential opportunities for attractive deal flow in the near to medium term.
"We're certainly spending more time ensuring that the exposures are being managed appropriately, as well as assessing the opportunity set in the investable universe," Lord stated. "Illiquidity, negative sentiment and widening spread is creating potential opportunity for attractive deal flow in the near to medium term."
Currently, approximately five percent of AIMCo's portfolio is allocated to private credit, with a focus on adding high-quality senior secured exposures. Lord noted that these investments have performed well and are expected to continue doing so, despite liquidity concerns circulating in the market.
U.S. Exposure Remains Substantial and Unchanged
About 38 percent of AIMCo's assets under management are invested in the United States across various asset classes including infrastructure, public equities, fixed income, private equity, and to a lesser degree, private credit. Lord confirmed there is no intention of changing this allocation level, stating that the U.S. remains a very attractive place to invest across all of AIMCo's product offerings.
"We still view the U.S. as a very attractive place to invest across our products," he emphasized, adding that AIMCo has actually focused more on private credit opportunities in Europe than in the United States to date.
2025 Performance Results and Benchmark Comparison
On Tuesday, AIMCo reported a net investment return of 7.5 percent for 2025, with public equities providing a significant boost to performance. The one-year return for public equities reached 18.6 percent, lifting the 10-year annualized return for this asset class to 10.9 percent.
Lord attributed the strong public equities performance to "investor confidence in artificial intelligence-related capital investments and increased earnings expectations."
However, the overall 2025 return fell short of AIMCo's benchmark, a miss that was attributed to a challenging year for private markets and the use of public market-linked benchmarks within private asset classes. Among private asset performances:
- Private debt and loans delivered a one-year return of 7.9 percent
- Real estate showed a negative one-year return of 2.2 percent
- Renewable resources declined by 0.5 percent
AIMCo, which invests on behalf of pensions, endowments and government funds, maintains its strategic positioning despite these performance variations, with Lord noting that the organization hasn't seen significant changes from a watch list or default perspective in its private credit holdings.
