Fiera Comox Partners

The firm sources agriculture and timberland deals through a combination of direct relationships with landowners, operators, and joint-venture partners. Its 2024 partnership with Ngāi Toho Holdings in New Zealand and a direct timberland acquisition of 6,650 acres demonstrate a mix of proprietary off-market and negotiated transactions. The team's Canadian pension plan heritage also provides institutional networks that smaller real asset managers typically lack.

Fiera Capital founded Fiera Comox Partners in 2016, seeding the platform with three former pension plan executives. While the firm operates with substantial autonomy in investment decision-making, the backing of a publicly traded asset manager provides infrastructure and distribution support that an independent start-up would otherwise need years to build.

The firm's private equity strategy is described as global, and its timberland and agriculture portfolios confirm activity in New Zealand alongside North American holdings. However, specific private equity portfolio company names and non-real-asset deployment outside North America are not publicly disclosed, making precise geographic splits difficult to verify.

Fiera Comox mandates that material sustainability risks and opportunities are integrated throughout the deal lifecycle, aligning with its fiduciary duty to clients. Stéphanie Lachance was appointed Head of Sustainable Investment in early 2024, and the firm produces annual sustainable investment reports for its agriculture and timberland strategies, detailing stewardship practices and environmental metrics.

The firm provides investment solutions to a wide range of investors, implying that its agriculture and timberland strategies are open to institutional limited partners alongside private equity and private credit offerings. The specific fund structures and minimum commitments are not publicly detailed on the firm's website.

The firm identifies its founding team as three former executives of a large Canadian pension plan, though their names are not publicly listed on the current leadership page. Day-to-day oversight now includes Jeff Zweig as Vice-Chair and Head of Asset Management, appointed in 2024, which suggests a structure where real asset and private equity decisions are unified under experienced institutional investors.

The firm's private equity and private credit strategies include direct, co-investment, and secondaries capabilities, indicating a flexible mandate. It is not structured as a fund-of-funds, but it can acquire LP interests and portfolios in secondary transactions alongside making direct control or minority investments.