The OPSEU Pension Trust saw a strong 2019, ending the year with an 11.2 per cent net investment return and maintaining its fully funded status. The plan’s total assets grew from almost $20 billion of net assets in 2018 to almost $22 billion in 2019, according to its 2019 funded status report. In other highlights from […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is acquiring 717,701 additional shares of Azure Power Global Ltd., bringing its total holdings in the company to 24,259,272 shares, or 50.9 per cent of the total outstanding stock. Azure Power is an independent Indian solar-power producer with a portfolio of assets generating more than seven gigawatts. “We have built […]
The solvency levels of Canadian defined benefit pension plans are down off the back of roiling equity and bond markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey found DB plans were down 6.7 per cent on average, from 102.5 per cent in early January to 95.8 per cent at […]
Northcrest Developments, a real estate subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, is launching a development project in Toronto, alongside the Canada Lands Co. The site, known as Downsview, is 520 acres and includes the Downsview Airport, which is slated for closure in 2023. While details of the development plans are largely unknown, a consultation process on how best […]
The most material and least quantifiable risks for mining companies lie in the social component of environmental, social and governance issues — and that’s where institutional investors looking at the sector should be focusing their attention and advocacy. Speaking at a panel discussion in Toronto on March 3, Amy Freedman, chief executive officer of shareholder […]
Close to a quarter (23 per cent) of institutional investors said they plan to reduce their cash balances, according to a new survey by BlackRock Inc. For fresh allocations, private markets remain the favourite by a wide margin. Indeed, more than half (55 per cent) of investors said they intend to up allocations to real […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is among a group of organizations participating in the first external investment round for Waymo, a California-based autonomous driving technology development company. Alongside other investors, the round raised US$2.25 billion. The company’s Waymo Driver has driven more than 20 million miles on public roads across more than 25 cities, as well as […]
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board, along with a consortium of other investors, is acquiring a majority stake in Lytx Inc., a video-telematics company. The investment, which was headed by global private equity firm Permira, included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, an affiliate of GIC Private Ltd. and HarbourVest Partners in the deal. The […]
Private equity firms are increasingly buying out venture capital-backed companies, according to a report from Pitchbook. Indeed, between 2000 and 2019, the number of venture to private equity buyouts grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 18.1 per cent, compared with buyouts overall which only grew at 9.5 per cent. According to the report, […]
Pension funds view geopolitical risk as the top risk to the financial system, followed by economic risk and climate risk, according to the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services’ annual risk outlook survey for 2019-2020. While the survey wasn’t technically broken down by pension plans versus other institutional investors, Sonia Baxendale, chief executive officer of […]