AlphaFixe Capital Inc., a Montreal-based fixed-income manager, is launching a first-of-its-kind investment fund focused on Indigenous economic reconciliation. The fund will invest in bonds from corporate and government issuers with strong reconciliation performance, measured by criteria such as Indigenous representation on boards and in workforces, as well as community well-being factors like housing and healthcare security.
The company developed a unique scoring methodology over nearly three years, working with an Indigenous advisory committee. The system evaluates issuers based on 9 criteria for corporations and 40 for public issuers like provincial governments. Sébastien Rhéaume, AlphaFixe’s co-founder, acknowledged the challenge of quantifying qualitative aspects of reconciliation but emphasized the need for measurable metrics.
The fund will also finance specialized bonds from institutions like Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada that support Indigenous businesses and communities. Amanda Calla, director of Indigenous relations at Sun Life Financial and a member of the advisory committee, highlighted the collaborative effort to align the fund with Indigenous priorities. She hopes the model will be widely adopted across the investment industry.
AlphaFixe believes the fund can achieve both social impact and strong performance, citing the success of its green bond fund, which has grown to $2.5-billion in assets under management. Sun Life will be the first to offer the new fund on its retirement platform, with other institutions expected to follow.