February 2021

09Feb

Canada. Pension plans focusing on streamlining ESG strategies in 2021

Pension plans in Canada now factor environmental, social and governance monitoring in their investment process, and in the absence of national guidance, plan managers are using various tools and methods to analyze ESG risk, noted panelists of a roundtable recently hosted by The Association of Canadian Pension Management. “Considering ESG requires a balance of the investment opportunities with the risks, I think we’re still in an evolving situation right now where lack of data is a challenge to assessing...

February 9, 2021
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04Feb

Ontario teachers pension fund gains $500 million by cashing in on GameStop stock rebellion

Wall Street's hedge funds are set to lose tens of billions of dollars after a mob of traders on Reddit's WallStreetBets page sent GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and other stocks skyrocketing in recent days. However, some Canadian entities are cashing in on what is being touted as the "biggest short squeeze in 25 years." Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan—the largest shareholder in U.S. mall owner Macerich Co.—reportedly sold its entire holding for nearly $500 million when the stock soared. According to...

February 4, 2021
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January 2021
26Jan

Canada. Morneau Shepell releases the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds

Morneau Shepell (TSX: MSI) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds for the fourth quarter of 2020. According to the report, in the fourth quarter of 2020, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 5.7 per cent before management fees and 9.3 per cent since the beginning of the year. “The stock market rebound continued into the fourth quarter, most market indices showed positive returns. The MSCI World Index delivered 8.7...

January 26, 2021
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22Jan

Canadian pension funds hunt for pandemic real estate bargains

Canadian pension funds are seeking to boost their real estate investments, betting the slumping property market will recover as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and office workers and city dwellers return to downtown properties. Canadian pension funds held $278.7 billion in property assets in 2019, up 4% from 2018, according to the Pension Investment Association of Canada, making them the country’s largest real estate owners. In a world of slower economic growth, very low interest rates, volatility in equity markets,...

January 22, 2021
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13Jan

Canada Pension Plan Joins BTG in Bid for Brazil Telecom Business

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is joining a fund managed by Banco BTG Pactual SA to make a binding offer for the fiber unit of Brazilian telecom carrier Oi SA, according to people familiar with the matter. Read also Pensions and investments could be tapped for £800m in UK’s dormant assets The bid is expected Jan. 22, along with two other binding offers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Highline do...

January 13, 2021
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08Jan

Canada. Ontario students push teachers to pressure pension fund to divest from fossil fuels

An environmental coalition is appealing to Ontario teachers to pressure their pension fund to divest from companies that develop or transport fossil fuel products. In a four minute YouTube video, a group of students from across Ontario read a letter to their teachers, asking them to push the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to stop investing their retirement savings in oil, gas, coal, and pipeline companies. The coalition — which consists of activist groups Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health,...

January 8, 2021
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December 2020

29Dec

Time is now for Canada’s public pension giants to invest in a safe climate future

As 2020 came to a close, the federal government made laudable plans to cut carbon pollution faster and deeper. But we haven’t seen similar commitments to climate action from a massive pool of capital over which Canadians have real power: our pension funds. Canada’s 10 largest public pension funds alone manage nearly $1.8 trillion — an amount approaching the size of the country’s annual GDP. These pension giants own sizable pieces of the real economy and hold significant shares...

December 29, 2020
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18Dec

Canada. Pension fund managers call for strengthened ESG disclosure by companies

In an unprecedented move, some of Canada's largest institutional investors have banded together to ask companies for more rigorous disclosures of environmental, social and governance factors, an effort they say is meant to promote more sustainable and inclusive economic growth. A group of eight pension funds, which together manage a total of about $1.6 trillion in assets, called on corporations in a joint statement Wednesday to standardize their disclosures of so-called ESG factors to help them in their investment...

December 18, 2020
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17Dec

UK. Canadian pension fund takes control of Trafford Centre

A pension fund has taken control of the Trafford Centre after administrators received "no viable bids" for it. The shopping centre, which attracts about 30 million visitors a year, went up for sale in August after owner Intu Properties (IP) entered administration. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a key lender to IP, has taken ownership as the principal creditor. CPPIB's Geoff Souter said despite "challenging" retail conditons, the centre still had "strong prospects". The Canadian fund had provided...

December 17, 2020
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16Dec

Canada’s Largest Pension Says Inflation Could Rise in Rebound

By Paula Sambo Canada’s largest pension fund says policy measures across the globe to address the Covid-19 pandemic could fuel inflation after years of under-inflation while also spurring a rebound in employment and business investment. “We’re keeping an eye on this because central banks have adjusted frameworks,” Mark Machin, chief executive officer of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said in an interview Tuesday. “There is also the risk of a wall of money in savings accounts -- $13 trillion...

December 16, 2020
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