Our History

The idea for Pier 21 Asset Management was conceived with the fall of foreign content limits in Canada. Founder, President and CEO David Star had made a 20-year career of searching, hiring and monitoring institutional investment managers across asset classes and around the globe. His experience taught him that the choices available to institutional investors in Canada did not reflect the fullness of the opportunities that existed beyond our borders.

Research into the magnitude of this gap revealed the following:

1. There was a concentration of control in the global asset class in Canada where well-branded but underperforming asset management firms captured most of the available foreign assets to manage.

2. Demand was growing. Without foreign content restrictions, Canadian institutions were demonstrating an appetite for excellence in global investment management.

3. Choice was limited to managers with close proximity to Canada. Canada's location, geographic expansiveness and regulatory rigour had narrowed plan sponsors' investable universe to the point where proximity equalled presence.

4. Access to the Canadian marketplace by foreign investment managers was constrained. Specialized and skilful investment managers outside of North America had no mechanism for gaining access to Canadian plan sponsors. Pier 21 now acts as that mechanism.