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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04Dec

Why a Canadian Pension Fund Performs Better Than Yours

Over the period from 2004 through 2018, Canadian pension funds outperformed their international peers in asset performance and liability hedging, according to a research paper that says a key to this success is a three-pronged business model that would have boosted the returns of US and other pensions had they used the same tactics. The three-pillar business model consists of managing assets in-house to reduce costs, redeploying resources to investment teams for each asset class, and funneling capital toward...

December 4, 2020
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November 2020

30Nov

Canadian pension funds, insurers seeking private debt face shrinking pool of lower-risk firms

Canadian pension funds and insurers are facing a shrinking universe of higher-quality private debt investments to lift returns in a low-yield world, as the coronavirus pandemic has crushed many businesses, while banks maintain lending to better ones. The tightening supply of this high-yielding credit comes as many Canadian institutional investors have been accelerating their exposure to the private debt. Private credit is issued primarily by closely held companies, offering a premium over corporate bonds due to fewer disclosures and...

November 30, 2020
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