The Alberta Investment Management Corp. board of directors is defending AIMCo’s investment in Precision Drilling Trust.

Earlier this month, Alberta’s public-sector fund manager bought a 15% stake in Precision Drilling Trust for about $380 million.

It has been suggested that AIMCo’s vice chairman George Gosbee had a conflict of interest with respect to this transaction just because he knows one of the founders of Precision Drilling.

The AMICo board calls that suggestion “at best misguided.”

“The founder has not been associated with Precision Drilling for nearly two years. Mr. Gosbee never had any financial or other connection to the company. He has no conflict, and it is wrong to suggest otherwise,” AMICo’s board said in a statement released Wednesday.

“AIMCo’s board is a governance board. Mr. Gosbee was made aware of the Precision Drilling investment by AIMCo’s management at the same as other AIMCo directors,” AIMCO’s board said.

“The board approved the transaction proposed by management, because it was a wise and prudent investment opportunity befitting AIMCo’s mandate. Nothing more. Nothing less,” it concluded.

AIMCo is an Alberta crown corporation set up on Jan. 1, 2008. Its board independently supervises approximately $68 billion of public sector pension, endowment and special purpose funds.

IE