July 2017

11Jul

Canada’s OPTrust Fund Forced to Take Risks to Shore Up Returns

Frustrated by poor returns, OPTrust Chief Executive Officer Hugh O’Reilly is moving into riskier investments as contributors to the retirement pot age. “We can’t just match cash flows, we have to take risks,” O’Reilly, whose company oversees $19.2 billion of investments for Ontario government workers, said in an interview. “We don’t want to increase contributions or reduce future benefit accruals where the active members will bear the whole risk.” OPTrust is starting a C$300 million ($233 million) venture-capital portfolio and is...

July 11, 2017
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06Jul

Canada. Executive shakeup at CPPIB reveals apparent change of heart about risk management

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which stood apart from other major pension plans and Canadian financial institutions because it didn’t have a chief risk officer, appears to have had a change of heart. Neil Beaumont, who was most recently vice-president of Finance Minerals America for BHP Billiton, will become chief financial and risk officer at CPPIB on July 24. Beaumont will take over some functions from Benita Warmbold, who is retiring, but adds duties to reflect the pension fund’s “continued...

July 6, 2017
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June 2017

29Jun

Canada public pension fund commits up to $1 billion to buy U.S. oil, gas assets

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country's biggest public pension fund, plans to invest up to $1 billion to buy oil and gas assets in the United States in a partnership with Encino Energy Ltd. CPPIB said on Wednesday the partnership, Encino Acquisition Partners, would seek non-core assets being sold by global energy majors and would focus on basins already producing oil and gas. Houston-based energy company Encino Energy, which is privately-owned, will operate the assets acquired by the partnership...

June 29, 2017
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May 2017

19May

Canada Pension Plan with ~12% return says it’s losing out on infrastructure deals

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), one of the world's biggest infrastructure investors, is regularly losing out in bidding wars for such assets, its chief executive said, as investors seek alternatives to low-yielding government bonds. The CPPIB is one of the world's biggest investors in infrastructure such as roads, bridges and tunnels but its CEO Mark Machin said high valuations were making it harder to do deals in the current environment. "We are consistently outbid for assets around the world...

May 19, 2017
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16May

Canada’s pension fund to invest up to $1.2 bn in India’s real state.

Canadian pension fund, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), has acquired a majority stake in IndoSpace, the warehousing and logistics real estate arm of the Everstone Group. The pension fund has committed $500 million for the majority stake and will acquire 13 industrial and logistics parks totalling 14 million square feet as part of the deal, the companies announced on Monday. Under the agreement, IndoSpace and CPPIB will create a joint venture IndoSpace Core that will focus on acquiring and developing...

May 16, 2017
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10May

Canada’s Largest Pension Fund Opposes Re-Election of Bombardier Chairman

Bombardier (BBDb.TO) faced fresh pension fund opposition to the re-election of its executive chairman and the Quebec government said the plane and train maker should listen to the growing number of institutional shareholders citing governance concerns. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country's largest pension fund manager, withheld its vote for the re-election of Pierre Beaudoin at Bombardier's annual meeting on Thursday. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) also withheld its vote on his re-election on Tuesday, echoing similar...

May 10, 2017
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08May

Canada. Care of aging parents costs Canadians an estimated $33B annually

Caring for aging parents costs Canadians an estimated $33 billion a year in out-of-pocket expenses and time taken from work, and that figure is expected to grow, according to a report released Monday by economists at CIBC. "An aging population combined with longer lifespans and strained social services has in recent years seen more and more Canadians taking on the role of caregiver for their aging parents," CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal and senior economist Royce Mendes said in...

May 8, 2017
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April 2017

27Apr

Canadian pension fund CPPIB targets new investment avenues in India

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country's largest pension fund manager, is exploring opportunities in India's financial services, telecoms and logistics sectors to expand its bets in the South Asian economy, CPPIB's Asia Pacific head Suyi Kim said on Wednesday. CPPIB, which has poured more than C$4 billion ($3 billion) into real estate and other investments in the country, will expand its eight-member team in India in a measured manner as it looks boost the share of investment in...

April 27, 2017
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25Apr

Performance Evaluation of Pooled Funds in US and Canada

Pension funds kick off 2017 with positive returns. Morneau Shepell (MSI) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the first quarter of 2017. According to the report, in the first quarter of 2017, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 3.0 per cent before management fees. "Stock markets made strong advances in the first quarter. Emerging market equities dominated with an impressive return of 10.9 per cent for the MSCI Emerging Markets...

April 25, 2017
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05Apr

New report suggests a ‘fully-funded’ expanded Canada Pension Plan might not be such a sure thing

A new report that looks at the federal government’s blueprint for an expanded Canada Pension Plan warns the larger payouts are predicated on returns that may not materialize over the next 40-75 years. The C.D. Howe Institute in a paper out Tuesday is calling on Ottawa to be more forthcoming about the potential investment risk for the plan, suggesting that over the next 40 years the expanded plan will achieve 90 per cent of targeted benefits only 54 per cent...

April 5, 2017
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