Pension Pulse

Alicia McElhaney of Institutional Investor reports on why PSP Investments is good at ESG: Pension funds that develop environmental, social, and governance frameworks without government interference tend to have an easier time incorporating those programs into their investment process.  This is just one of the conclusions of a recently published paper entitled “ The Origins of ESG in Pensions: Strategies and Outcomes ,” which included an analysis of how Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board has been incorporating ESG into its portfolio since 2001.  The C$204.5 billion ($162.6 billion) fund served as a case study for researchers Judith Stroehle, the research and program lead for the Oxford Said Initiative on Rethinking Performance at the University of Oxford’s business school, and Stéphanie Lachance, a managing director for PSP’s responsible investments team.  “We find that the regulatory environment of pensions is not always a supporting factor for ...

Today, CDPQ released a press release that along with Centerbridge Partners, it is acquiring Medical Solutions, one of the largest providers of total workforce solutions in the healthcare industry: Medical Solutions (the “Company”), one of the largest providers of total workforce solutions in the healthcare industry, today announced a definitive agreement under which funds advised by Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (“Centerbridge”) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) will acquire the Company from TPG Growth. Terms of the agreement were not   disclosed. Launched in 2001, Medical Solutions specializes in placing highly skilled, quality travel nurses, allied healthcare professionals, interim clinical leaders, and non-clinical professionals, in contingent as well as permanent positions, for hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities throughout the United States. In   2020, the Company deployed clinicians to more than 4,500 ...

Jeff Cox of CNBC reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sees taper by the end of the year, but says there’s ‘much ground to cover’ before rate hikes: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated Friday that the central bank is likely to begin withdrawing some of its easy-money policies before the end of the year, though he still sees interest rate hikes off in the distance. In a much-anticipated speech as part of the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium, Powell said the economy has reached a point where it no longer needs as much policy support. That means the Fed likely will begin cutting the amount of bonds it buys each month before the end of the year, so long as economic progress continues. Based on statements from other central bank officials, a tapering announcement could come as soon as the Fed’s Sept. 21-22 meeting. However, it does not mean that rate increases are looming. “The timing and pace of the coming reduction in asset purchases wi...

Caroline Cakebread of the Canadian Leadership Congress interviewed HOOPP's former CEO and current member of AIMCo's board of directors, Jim Keohane, on market manias and lessons learned:  We are thrilled to be able to honour the career of veteran investor, Jim Keohane, at the CLC’s upcoming Challenge of Change Forum in Vancouver, from October 13-15. Jim was president and CEO of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) from 2011 until his recent retirement in March 2020 and now, he serves on AIMCo’s board of directors. He is widely viewed as a pioneer in the risk management space and was the architect of HOOPP’s liability-driven investment strategy. We were able to sit down with Jim in advance of the event (thanks to Zoom) and talk to him about what he’s learned through his career, discuss his thoughts on what’s happening in markets today and to ask the question, what if the uptick in inflation isn’t temporary? What was the biggest challenge you ever faced in ...