Pension Pulse

Mona Dohle of Net Zero Investor reports  UPP’s Barbara Zvan on the shift to inflation-proof and climate assets: UPP is now fully funded just four years after launch, CEO Barbara Zvan discusses the fund’s shift to inflation-protected assets, its C$1.2bn commitment to climate solutions, and the challenge of decarbonising private markets. UPP is a relative newcomer in the Canadian pension landscape. The C$12.8bn plan, which serves more than 40,000 members across five Ontario universities and 14 sector organisations, was launched in 2021 amid a challenging backdrop for single-sponsor DB plans in a low-interest-rate environment. Employee groups and university administrations, with backing from the provincial government, opted to merge their separate DB plans into one multi-university jointly sponsored pension plan (JSPP), which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. Since then, conditions have improved considerably, with rising gilt yields boosting DB funding levels gl...

Brian Swint of Barron's reports  Buffett's stock buys say plenty about the stock market but his inaction says more: Sometimes what you don’t do speaks louder than what you do. With a net worth of about $140 billion, there’s a reason Warren Buffett is considered the ultimate investment guru by so many. As he prepares to step away from his CEO role at Berkshire Hathaway  by the end of the year, his followers are running out of time to imitate his moves. The latest Berkshire trades reveal the house is still on the lookout for cheap shares. It bought a stake in UnitedHealth , the insurer that has dropped 50% over the past 12 months, probably because it sees the selloff as overdone. And for what it’s worth, David Tepper’s Appaloosa also bought UNH stock in the second quarter. So did Michael Burry, the investor who famously made billions in the 2008-09 financial crisis as dramatized in the movie “The Big Short.” Given the stock’s continued declines before Friday, they may ha...

The Canadian Press reports  CPP Investments earned 1 per cent in first quarter, net assets increased to $731.7-billion:  The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says it earned a net return of one per cent for its first quarter. CPP Investments chief executive John Graham says shifting trade dynamics and broader geopolitical uncertainty fuelled renewed volatility in global markets during the quarter. “Through these events, the fund remained resilient, supported by our diversified investment strategy, including broad geographic exposure that helps offset shifts in the employment, wage and demographic trends that determine CPP contributions,” Graham said in a statement Thursday. “We remain focused on creating long-term value for the benefit of CPP contributors and beneficiaries.” The fund noted that while markets declined early in the period, public equities rebounded by quarter end, contributing to overall performance. It said energy assets and strong results from it...