October 2017

17Oct

Canada. It’s time to treat aging as an asset, not a burden

By now, you may be aware that Canada’s seniors recently crossed a significant threshold. Statistics Canada announced for the first time ever that people over 65 now officially outnumber children under 15. The story is similar all over the world. Historians will say one day that this global shift in demographics was one of the most important events of the 21st century. Indeed, it’s certainly a triumph of public health and modern medicine. For many, though, this shift is seen...

October 17, 2017
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16Oct

Canadian Pension Plan to invest up to US$500 million on data centres

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is investing up to US$350 million in data centres with Singapore’s Alpha Data Centre Fund (ADCF), with the option to invest another $150 million. CPPIB, the investment manager of Canada’s biggest pension plan, is teaming up with Singapore-based Alpha Investment Partners and data centre operator Keppel Data Centre Holdings (Keppel Data Centre) – both part of the city state’s Keppel Group – in the deal. The ADCF was launched in July 2016 by Alpha...

October 16, 2017
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12Oct

Canadian Pension Fund To Invest In Singapore Keppel’s Asset Management Business

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has decided to make an initial investment of up to $350 million, with an option to invest another $150 million, in Alpha Data Centre Fund, the asset management business of Singapore's Keppel Corporation. CPPIB's latest commitment and option will bring the ADCF's combined and co-investment interest up to $1 billion, double its initial target size of $500 million, Keppel said in an exchange filing today. "When fully leveraged and invested, the fund will potentially have...

October 12, 2017
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10Oct

Canada. CDPQ and CKD IM acquire Mexican wind and solar assets of Enel Green Power, for a total capacity of 1,712 MW

La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a long-term institutional investor, and CKD Infraestructura México (CKD IM), a consortium of Mexican institutional investors, announced today the acquisition of 80% of a portfolio of eight wind and solar assets owned by Enel Green Power(Enel), a global leader in renewable energy. Following this transaction, Enel will remain the operator and retain 20% of the portfolio. This is a major investment for CDPQ and CKD IM, a group consisting of Mexican pension fund managers...

October 10, 2017
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05Oct

Canada’s Pension Funds Are Piling on Leverage, Moody’s Warns

Canada’s public pension funds, among the biggest in the world, are piling on risk with leveraged bets in a chase for higher returns, Moody’s Investors Service warns. The nation’s six biggest pension funds have increased their average leverage to 24 percent, from 19 percent in 2009, in an effort to offset the impact of declining pension member contributions and low interest rates on their cash flow and investment returns, Moody’s said in an Oct. 3 report written by analyst Jason...

October 5, 2017
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September 2017

26Sep

CPPIB allocates $1 billion for Indian public market investments

Not all foreign funds are balking at Indian equities -spooked by rich valuations, slow corporate earnings or at the growing prospects of interest rate hikes in the US. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the most active Canadian investor in India, has just reaffirmed its commitment, by allocating a dedicated $1-billion corpus, exclusively for public market investments, said multiple sources aware. As one of the 10 largest retirement funds in the world, the initial thesis of CPPIB has been to...

September 26, 2017
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14Sep

Canada. Québec’s largest pension fund turns to carbon budgets to address climate risks

Investment managers at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec have a new tool to help them account for the increased financial risks posed by climate change: Carbon budgets. These “budgets” allow managers to allocate a specific amount of carbon-dioxide emissions that might result from an investment decision, effectively setting limits on the carbon footprint of a manager’s portfolio. Within the carbon budget, “you have to make choices as to where you invest and how you invest because what we...

September 14, 2017
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August 2017

28Aug

Canada. CPPIB to end Kotak JV plan for stressed assets

Canada's largest pension fund CPPIB will call off its proposed joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Group to invest in stressed assets in India. The $525-million fund that was announced in March 2016 will be wound up as it failed to find investments in stressed assets, said two people with direct knowledge of the development. Kotak Group will now go alone with commitments from some sovereign funds such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Qatar Investment Authority on a deal...

August 28, 2017
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23Aug

Canada Pension Plan reform to boost assets above $15 trillion by 2090

The upcoming enrichment of the Canada Pension Plan will help fuel a 48-fold boost to the public fund’s assets over the long haul – to more than $15.8 trillion by 2090, according to federal calculations. In comparison, the public plan’s investment manager reported $326.5 billion in net assets at the end of the first quarter of 2017-18. Long-term projections on the evolution of the CPP’s post-reform assets were included in an internal briefing note prepared for federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau...

August 23, 2017
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July 2017

25Jul

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

According to the report, in the second quarter of 2017, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 0.7 per cent before management fees. "In the second quarter, the Canadian stock market underperformed by 1.6 per cent, while global stock markets posted positive returns. The rise in the Canadian dollar versus several foreign currencies had a negative impact on Canadian investors. For the second quarter in a row, emerging market equities dominated with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index returning...

July 25, 2017
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