Pension Pulse

Anna Gordon of Chief Investment Officer reports on how CalPERS’ project to measure ESG in private equity has 100 organizations managing $8 trillion participating: Three months ago, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) launched the ESG Data Convergence Project, an attempt to measure environmental, social, and governance (ESG) milestones within private equity. The pension has partnered with The Carlyle Group, the international private equity asset management group, on the project. At yesterday’s CalPERS board meeting, Julia Jaskolska, associate investment manager of private equity at CalPERS, told the board that the project has now reached more than 100 organizations and $8 trillion assets under management (AUM). More updates regarding the project are expected to come in the upcoming months. ESG has traditionally been difficult to measure in private equity since private equity companies are not beholden to the same levels of transparency as public compa

Today CDPQ announced it increased its stake in Énergir, making the company entirely Québec-owned: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, today announced a significant increase in its majority stake in limited partnership Trencap L.P., alongside the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Through Noverco, Trencap is the sole owner of   Énergir.  Following this transaction, CDPQ holds 80.9% of Trencap shares, while the Fonds de solidarité FTQ maintains its 19.1% stake in the company, making Énergir a company that is now wholly owned by Québec investors. Today’s announcement follows an initial transaction of $1.14   billion made public in June   2021, through which Trencap became the sole owner of Noverco, which owns 100% of Énergir   shares.  With assets of over $9   billion and 535,000 customers across Québec and the northeastern United States, Énergir is a diversified energy business, with half of its assets now involved in

Sarah Rundell of top1000funds reports on what what asset owners expect in 2022: Asset owners think in years rather than months, but investors expect a handful of key areas will define the year ahead. A clearer view on inflation; poor bond performance and a resurgence in labour rights to name a few. Inflation This year investors will find out if inflation is just a temporary blip caused by energy and supply chain bottlenecks, or here to stay thanks to massive Central Bank stimulus in response to the pandemic. “Central Banks’ ability to combine the conflicting objectives of economic recovery and maintaining the solvency of States with quelling demand-pulled inflation will be crucial in 2022,” says Olivier Rousseau, executive director of France’s Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites . While over the past year investors have had varying opinions on inflation, many now believe the Federal Reserve has largely read inflation right. It’s a view held by Charles van Vleet, assistan

Luna Sun of the South China Morning Post reports that without adequate pensions, more elderly in China can say goodbye to their golden years:  Six days a week for 13 hours a day, 56-year-old Chen Qingling and her husband clean the corridors and bathrooms of an office building in Beijing to feed themselves and their son’s family. While their wealthier peers spend retirement travelling, taking dance lessons and classes in Chinese tea culture and painting, Chen – who hails from the countryside in Henan province – does not have savings or a pension to live out her golden years in comfort. “My son is still recovering from an injury and his wife stays at home to take care of their three young children,” Chen said. “If I don’t work, who will feed the five mouths? My father-in-law is 89 years old and visits the hospital a lot, which also costs a lot of money. “There’s no spare money I can save up. It’s difficult, but I have to hang in there to keep living.” China has been transfor