The program
584M$ CA
Assets under management as of November 30th, 2024
13
Selected managers
2
Classes
15
Diversified Strategies
12
institutional allocators
The QEMP grants structured investment mandates to new firms and offers a mentorship framework.
Unique in the world, this project enables institutional investors to access alpha diversifying investment strategies while investing locally.
Traditional class
The asset allocation is dictated by investment opportunities and the level of conviction of the traditional investment committee towards the different strategies in the portfolio, which are composed of equity and fixed income mandates.
The objective of the Traditional program is to generate excess return relative to the benchmark that is composed of the weighted sum of the benchmarks of the underlying strategies based on the target weight of each strategy.
Alternative class
The Alternative program is diversified through a variety of complementary hedge fund strategies. The program aims to generate an absolute return with a volatility target between 5% and 7%, while having a limited correlation to traditional asset classes.
Quebec Emerging Manager Program (QEMP)
In 2016, Innocap and Finance Montréal launched the QEMP.
his project was developed in connection with the Finance Montréal’s Entrepreneurship Work Group, in collaboration with established portfolio management firms in Quebec, under the leadership of Vital Proulx and Stéphane Corriveau.
Objectives
Support the ecosystem
Encourage best practices
Promote local managers
Benefits
- In-depth due diligence and a rigorous process for selecting emerging managers;
- Institutional fund structure and continuous monitoring ensured by Innocap, reducing the potential for operational risks associated with emerging managers;
- Allows institutional investors’ in-house teams to focus on investment management and thus delegate operational, risk, legal and compliance functions to managed account experts;
- Participate in the growth and contribute to the success of new investment strategies proposed by Quebec-based managers.
- Obtain significant mandates while avoiding dilution of their company’s capital;
- Benefit from an institutional structure and support to ensure the sustainability of their firm;
- Allow managers to focus on portfolio management fonctions;
- Receive support and recognition from the financial community.
The investor participates directly in the social component of the ESG:
- Investing in a sustainable Quebec economy and the success of tomorrow’s great managers;
- Job creation and local economic impacts;
- Retain and attract talent.
Institutional governance
Emerging managers benefit from a disciplined governance structure leveraging the expertise of the industry’s great builders, established and qualified players.
Composed of industry leaders, QEMP’s advisory board’s mission is to provide guidance on manager selection and composition of the asset allocation policy. QEMP is proud to count on the support of the following renowned market contributors:
Advisory Committee
- Guy Beaulieu, PBI
- Pierre Bélanger, CPEGQ
- Michel Charron, Aon
- Sam Clemente, Eckler
- Stéphane Corriveau, AlphaFixe
- Jean-François Dumais, Bâtirente
- Jean-Pierre Talon, Mercer
- Paul-Éric Naud, CDPQ
- Matthieu Lessard, Normandin Beaudry
- Jean-Philippe Thiffault, WTW
- Pierre-Luc Lamothe, SAI Actuarial Services
- VA Jean Bergeron, TELUS Health
Members of the Traditional Committee
- Stéphane Corriveau, external expert, AlphaFixe
- François Saloff Coste, Fonds de solidarité FTQ
- Marc-Christopher Lavoie, external expert, DGIA
- Claude Lockhead, member of the Board of Directors
- Paul-Eric Naud, CDPQ designated investor
- Christian Nols, designated investor National Bank
- Emrick Trottier, Régime de rentes du Mouvement Desjardins
Members of the Alternative Committee
- Errico Cocchi, designated investor, City of Montreal
- Brian Cyr, external expert, ClaridgeInc.
- Jimmy Fortin, external expert, DGIA
- Charles Lemay, external expert, Walter GAM
- Paul-Eric Naud, CDPQ designated investor
- Luc Verville, designated Fondaction investor and member of the Board of Directors
Members of the board of directors
- Odrée Ducharme, Senior Director, Strategy and Execution, Investment Funds and External Management (CDPQ) as Chairman of the board
- Claude Lockhead, Senior Advisor (Fiera Capital) as Director
- Christel Maignant, Senior Portfolio Manager, Selection and Monitoring of External Managers (Desjardins Global Asset Management) as Administrator
- Sébastien Rhéaume, Senior Director (AlphaFixe), as Treasurer
- Luc Verville, Head of Investments, Public Markets (Fondaction) as director
- Caroline Bergeron, Senior Director, Impact Solutions and ESG
- Sylvain Boulé, President and CEO at Montrusco Bolton
Founding members
The QEMP would like to thank the founding members who largely contributed to the inception of the program, providing emerging portfolio managers their opportunity to shine.
- Jacques Bourgeois, HEC Montreal
- Robert Brunelle, Hexavest Inc.
- Mario Delisle, Aon Hewitt
- Mario Lavallée, University of Sherbrooke
- Pierre Parent, Normandin Beaudry
- Louise Charette, Consultant
- Jean-François Bernier, Directeur général, Interactive Brokers
- Robert Auger, consultant en gestion d’actifs
- Vital Proulx, Hexavest Inc. and responsible for the QEMP within the Entrepreneurship project of Finance Montréal
Institutional investors are notably composed of pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and other financial institutions. Currently, these Canadian allocators have the opportunity to invest in one or both programs. In addition, they will soon be able to design their own allocation by individually selecting any number of the underlying asset managers.
Since 1996, the Innocap Group has offered managed account solutions to a global institutional client base seeking high standards of governance. In addition to its structuring and due diligence expertise during manager selection, the group provides daily supervision of fund operations, customized risk management services and independent governance. Innocap’s model provides investors with in depth data transparency, including a breakdown of their assets, investment strategy compliance and centralized monitoring of service providers. Innocap sets itself apart in the industry through its expertise, flexibility and state-of-the-art technology.
In order to assume the role of administrator, banker, auditor, external legal counsel and broker, renowned partners have been retained. QEMP benefits from the support of the following service providers:
- BMO
- Apex Fund Services
- CIBC
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP
- JP Morgan
- Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
- Société Générale
- Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse
- Newedge
- Northern Trust
Responsible investment is part of the mission, values and practices of PGEQ.
- All our managers are signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).
- Voluntary participation in the Montreal Carbon Pledge.
- Mentoring collaboration with local universities in Finance.
- Integration of ESG factors in fundamental research reports and improvement of screening processes based on ESG criteria.