AIMCo was established by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 2008 under the government of Progressive Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach.

These included stakes in Spanish pipelines, English waterworks, and Puget Sound Energy in Washington, as well as Canadian companies like KMC Mining Corp and Precision Drilling.

[7] According to former Board Chair, Kenneth Kroner, the government's report failed to judge AIMCo's performance against client-directed benchmarks, which determine how much of the pension fund's assets were allocated.

While the government cited a 96% rise in third-party fees and a 71% increase in the employee salary, it failed to acknowledge that these were driven by client demand for more investment in illiquid assets, such as real estate and private equity.

[12] In 2018 board members included J. Richard Bird as chair, Phyllis Clark, Helen Kearns, Ken Kroner, Jim Prieur, Tom Woods, Sharon Sallows, and Robert Vivian Jr.[13] Talisman Energy's Jackie Sheppard was the newest member, replacing Harold Roozen, who served from 2011 until 2018 when he retired.

[27][28] In December 2010, in an AIMCo-led private equity investment, it acquired a 50 per cent interest in Chile's Autopista Central's 61-kilometer, six-lane toll highway in Santiago on behalf AIMCo clients.

In 2012, Stanhope, Mitsui Fudosan UK and AIMCo, on behalf of its clients, completed the purchase of the BBC Television Centre in West London.

[35] AIMCo, in partnership with U.S. based AES Corp. acquired a 100% stake in FTP Power LLC from FirTree Partners for $1.6 billion in cash and debt.

AIMCo, in combination with the Virginia Retirement System successfully recovered $204.5 million after co-leading the class action securities litigation against MF Global, a now defunct broker dealer.

[36] This major rolling stock leasing UK company owns and manages a fleet of approximately 5,900 railway vehicles.

In May 2019, AIMCo announced that it was acquiring an 85 per cent interest in the $1.15 billion 90-kilometre Northern Courier pipeline system owned by the Calgary-based TC Energy's—formerly known as TransCanada Corporation.

[39] AIMCo lost much more than other "comparable funds" in February and March 2020, the initial weeks of the COVID-19 recession, by having investments "in contracts that pay off only if stock markets remain stable".

The majority of AIMCo's assets under management come from Alberta public sector pension plans and provincial endowment funds.

Collectively known as AIMCo's Balanced Funds, these clients are primarily invested in equities, bonds and inflation sensitive products.

[43] To date, over $33 billion has been made available to fund Albertans' priorities, such as health care, education, infrastructure and social programs.

Under the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Act, all income, less the amount required for inflation proofing, is used as revenue by the government.

The Government funds managed by AIMCo are used for Albertan services such as health care, education, infrastructure and social programs.

[citation needed] On June 11, 2020, the United Conservative government introduced the Reform of Agencies, Boards and Commissions and Government Enterprises Act, 2019 (Bill 22) amending a number of provincial statutes including transferring the administration of the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund to AIMCo, and requiring the two other largest public sector pension plans to use only AIMCo as investment managers.

[55][56][57] In December 2020, the Universities Academics Pension Plan (UAPP) agreed to move its public equities portfolio from AIMCo to a new investment manager.

The UAPP board cited the response by AIMCo to the recent losses attributed to the volatile investment strategy as the reason for the move.

[40] Following the loss, the fund quickly changed their volatility strategies and CEO Kevin Uebelein announced he would leave AIMCo by June 2021.