For years, institutional investors have used absolute return or cash-plus benchmarks to measure infrastructure performance, but it’s time to put these in the past and adopt market-relevant benchmarks based on fair value and representative data, according a new paper by the EDHEC Infrastructure Institute. “From the viewpoint of the state of the art in financial […]
While technological change is accelerating at a rapid rate, the financial system isn’t keeping pace, says Campbell Harvey, professor of finance at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Traditional systems make it difficult for those trying to raise capital or invest. Yet new technology is coming to market that can resolve many barriers and dramatically […]
While real assets have traditionally served institutional investors well during times of economic stress, the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic are starting to take their toll in some places. In commercial real estate, investors will likely re-evaluate their capital spending for 2020 in pockets like Edmonton and Calgary with the areas hit hard by the […]
In times of crisis, many pension plan sponsors pull back on investing in private equity, including the secondary market, because they’re trying to assess their liquidity needs, says Joseph Marks, global head of secondaries at Capital Dynamics. But this pulling back often happens at a time when they should be putting their foot on the […]
Changes to Quebec’s pension legislation, including a move away from solvency funding requirements and the introduction of a cost-sharing model, against the backdrop of a low interest rate environment has had a major influence on the City of Montreal’s pension investment strategy. The City manages six plans under one pooled portfolio. The assets from all […]
Despite the key differences between sovereign wealth funds and public pension plans, the two institutional investors are quite similar in that they’re large, state-owned, sophisticated pools of capital. However, on average, the two types of organizations approach their real estate investments differently, according to a new paper by McKay Price, Collins-Goodman chair in real estate […]
The novel coronavirus has introduced unprecedented volatility to financial markets and is taking its toll on pension plans. We’ve seen sharp corrections in most equity markets. At its lowest point in the correction to date, the S&P 500 lost 34 per cent of its value, from its peak in February. The TSX, which has also […]
For smaller pension funds looking to access private equity opportunities, the lower and middle part of the Canadian market should be very attractive, says Tracey McVicar, a partner at CAI Capital Partners, referring to businesses with $3 million to $10 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Institutional investors with bigger pools of […]
Worldwide private equity fundraising hit US$692 billion in 2019, surpassing the asset class’s peak in 2007. Private equity activity trended towards fewer but larger funds seeing commitments from investors, according to a new report by the Callan Institute. Buyout funds, in particular, saw a leap in commitments, jumping to 55.1 per cent of commitments overall […]
When it comes to private markets, implementing target allocations is easier said than done. At the Canadian Investment Review’s Plan Sponsor Exchange conference in February, a panel featuring Julie Cays, chief investment officer at the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan; Sean Hewitt, chief executive officer at the Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund […]