OMERS Private Equity

Michael Graham serves as Global Head of OMERS Private Equity, overseeing the direct-equity portfolio and investment team. Mark Redman leads North American deal sourcing as Senior Managing Director, while Saar Pikar heads the European practice. Investment committees at the senior leadership level approve significant control transactions.

The firm relies heavily on its pension balance-sheet reputation, long-standing intermediary relationships, and a geographic footprint spanning Toronto, New York, San Jose, Munich, and Singapore. Its ability to hold assets indefinitely, without fund-life constraints, often makes it a preferred counterparty for family-owned businesses seeking a permanent capital partner rather than a three-to-five-year hands-off sponsor.

Neither. OMERS Private Equity is the direct-equity division of a public pension plan, OMERS. It functions like an institutional asset manager with permanent capital — no external LP fundraising, no fund-life exit pressure, and a mandate to invest pension contributions directly into controlling stakes in mid-market operating companies.

OMERS Private Equity executes direct control investments. OMERS as a broader plan may also commit capital to external private equity funds through separate allocations, but the Private Equity group's mandate is exclusively direct-deal, buy-and-build investing in middle-market companies.

The group targets established middle-market companies at the control-buyout stage. It does not invest in early-stage venture capital, seed rounds, or minority growth equity. Typical enterprise values range from C$200 million to C$2 billion, with a focus on platforms that can serve as consolidation vehicles in fragmented industries.

All three operate as divisions of the same C$129 billion Canadian pension plan, OMERS. OMERS Infrastructure focuses on long-life real assets like energy, transportation, and utilities. OMERS Capital Markets runs public-equity and fixed-income portfolios. OMERS Private Equity sits alongside them, sharing the same permanent-capital balance sheet and often co-investing or coordinating on deals that span asset classes.

The group typically prefers to lead or control its own deals rather than co-invest alongside private equity fund managers. However, the broader OMERS plan does participate in external fund commitments and co-investments managed by separate groups, and the Private Equity team has occasionally partnered with other institutional investors on a deal-specific basis when strategic fit is strong.