Pension Pulse

Jan Henrik-Foerster and Dinesh Nair of Bloomberg report the CEO of $189 billion Ontario Fund is eyeing Private Equity’s turf: The head of one of North America's biggest investors in private markets wants to cut its reliance on buyout firms and do more deal-making on his own. Jo Taylor, chief executive officer of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto, has plans for the C$242 billion ($189 billion) fund to buy more controlling stakes in businesses directly, so that it can save on fees and keep a closer eye on environmental, social and governance matters. In a rare interview, Mr. Taylor said OTPP is looking more closely at both the returns its private equity portfolio generates, and whether it can have "sufficient influence" at the companies it invests in. "One of the advantages of being in a control position is that you can actually have a consistent view of how we interact with the businesses," he said. "That's quite hard to do when yo...

It's Memorial Day in the US so I thought I'd write a short comment covering CAAT’s 2022 annual webinar in and discuss Canadian retirement security. Before I get to it, Sadie Janes of Benefits Canada reports on how employers can support workers as record number of Canadians near retirement: With a record number of Canadians nearing retirement, employers can support workers through retirement planning initiatives and education, says one expert. According to a report released last week by Statistics Canada, more than a fifth (22 per cent) of Canadian employees are aged 55 to 64. It also found more Canadians are aged 55 to 64 than young adults aged 15 to 24, the ages at which individuals typically enter the labour market. In 2021, there were 81 persons aged 15 to 24 per 100 persons aged 55 to 64, while in 1966, there were more than 200 persons aged 15 to 24 per 100 persons aged 55 to 64. Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, director of financial security research for the ...

Tanaya Macheel and Hannah Miao of CNBC report the S&P 500, Dow snap losing streaks for best week since November 2020: Investors got a reprieve from a painful sell-off as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rallied to close their best weeks since November 2020. The Dow jumped 575.77 points, or nearly 1.8%, to 33,212.96. The S&P 500 rose about 2.5% to 4,158.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was the outperformer, helped by strong earnings from software companies and a fall in the 10-year Treasury yield. It was ended the day up 3.3% to reach 12,131.13. All three of the major averages closed the week higher. The Dow finished up 6.2% for the week and snapped its longest losing streak, eight weeks, since 1923. The S&P 500 is 6.5% higher and the Nasdaq is up 6.8% on the week. Both indexes ended seven-week losing streaks. A chunk of the week’s gains came Thursday and Friday, when all three of the averages rallied as strong retail earnings and a slowin...

Sarah Rundell of Top1000Funds spoke to Daniel Garant, EVP & Global Head of Public Markets at BCI, about doubling the allocation to private debt, the shifts in the portfolio and the focus on active management: BCI began building the allocation to private credit after the GFC when new regulatory burdens on banks requiring they hold more capital opened a gap for investors to lend more to private companies. Today, one reason opportunities in the asset class have spiked is because of its competitive advantage over the syndicated loan market, explains Daniel Garant, executive vice president and global head of public markets at BCI where he oversees a $137.8 billion allocation to fixed income and public equity, the bulk of which (79.5 per cent) is managed internally. “Private debt competes with syndicated loans in the upper-mid market, but syndicated loans are more subject to market volatility. For instance, private debt transactions saw a higher certainty of execution than sy...

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) released a statement that Bonduelle has entered into exclusive negotiations with it and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ for the disposal of 65% of Bonduelle Americas Long Life: The Bonduelle Group announces that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with the institutional investors Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), with a view, for these investors, to acquiring 65% of Bonduelle Americas Long Life (BALL) and based on a 100% enterprise value of C$   850   million (approximately €   625   million), representing a 2020-2021 EBITDA multiple of   8.2x. With a revenue of C$   943   million for financial year 2020-2021, BALL is dedicated to the processing and marketing of canned and frozen vegetables in the United States and Canada, in the retail supermarket and food service sectors, mainly with private labels, third party bra...

Oxford Properties Group (“Oxford”), the real estate subsidiary of OMERS, announced the formation of a joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management (“NBIM”) at the iconic Sony Center in Berlin: Oxford Properties Group (“Oxford”), a leading global real estate investor, asset manager and business builder, announces the formation of a 50:50 joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management (“NBIM”) at the iconic Sony Center in Berlin. NBIM will pay €677 million to acquire a 50% ownership interest in the Sony Center with Oxford selling 44.9% of its existing stake and Madison International Realty disposing its entire 5.1% interest. Oxford will retain a 50% interest in the property and act as asset manager on behalf of the new joint venture. The closing of the transaction, which values the property at €1.35 billion, is subject to regulatory approval. Comprising 113,000 sqm of prime office, retail and residential space in the heart of Berlin, the Sony Center stands as ...