High on the wall in the dining room of Toronto’s historic Albany Club hangs an imposing painting of Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald.  Like many famous portraits from the 19th century, it appears as though Macdonald’s eyes actually follow you as you move around the room. 

Yesterday, “Sir John A.” as he is colloquially known in Canada, cast his curious gaze upon a room full of institutional investors, consultants and investment managers at a CAIA Canada luncheon panel on infrastructure investing (co-presented by AIMA Canada and sponsored by KPMG).

The panel featured an infrastructure fund managers (IMG Aurion), an investment consultant (Mercer) and two institutional investors--the gigantic Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) and the even larger Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP-IB)--and was moderated by an institutional consultant (Caledon Capital).

Feedback was excellent from the sold-out event, as CAIA Canada executive committee member James Burron beta-tested background “briefing notes” for the event – essentially a “crib sheet” for audience members containing salient data-points and concepts pertinent to the discussion.

Panelists covered the evolving definition of “infrastructure” investments, their economic and financial characteristics, and the unique political risks associated with owning “public goods” such as roads, airports or (at least in Canada) hospitals.

Panelist John Walker, the Managing Director of the IMG Aurion Infrastructure Fund, pointed out that infrastructure was not really a “new” asset class – although he agreed with moderator David Rogers of Caledon Capital Management that the packaging of investment opportunities was somewhat new.

Walker’s point was well-taken by the audience however, which couldn’t help but notice that some of Canada’s most audacious (indeed nation-building) infrastructure projects – its transcontinental railway, its ports and its canals were once championed by the man whose painting now hung high above the proceedings.

If you looked closely, you could see the curl of a tiny smile at the corner of Sir John A.’s mouth.

Christopher Holt, MBA, CAIA
Director, Industry Relations (Americas) &
Managing Editor, AllAboutAlpha.com