London Calling: Global Investors for Indigenous-Led Projects

OMERS President and Chief Executive Officer Blake Hutcheson on Canadian capital deployment, Indigenous equity structures, and the pricing case for major project debt.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition's annual event in late April.

Blake Hutcheson, President and Chief Executive Officer of OMERS, has put a clear number on the page for international investors. At least $10 billion of additional Canadian deployment over the next five years, with a stated intention to lift Canada's share of the portfolio meaningfully above its current 20%. OMERS is one of Canada's Maple 8, managing approximately $155 billion in equity for 665,000 Ontarians, with a global portfolio operating across 14 time zones.

In this conversation with Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant, Hutcheson sets out:

• Why OMERS is finding Canada more investable than it has been in recent decades
• How the Bruce Power isotopes joint venture financing was priced at levels comparable to Government of Canada and Government of Ontario notes, and why this matters as a prototype for Indigenous-partnered infrastructure debt
• The $90 billion annual delta between current Canadian defence spend and the 2035 NATO target, and why the move from 70% foreign procurement to 70% domestic creates an addressable opportunity set across industrials and infrastructure
• Why First Nations are no longer accepting one-off cheques and are demanding equity positions in the businesses operating on their territories
• The competitive gap with the United States on corporate tax, depreciation rules, and treaty arrangements

Hutcheson runs OMERS on a fiduciary mandate that he describes plainly. "If we're playing jump ball with opportunities in England or Australia or the US or Canada, we really do try to weight more heavily for Canada, but not because we're being nice about it." The math has to work first.

For UK and continental European Managing Directors in Leveraged Finance, Debt Capital Markets, Infrastructure Finance, and Industrials coverage, this is a direct read on capital allocation thinking from inside the Maple 8.