Pension Pulse

Samantha Subin and Hakyung Kim of CNBC report stocks end Friday’s session little changed, Dow snaps 4-week win streak: The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended little changed Friday and finished lower for the week as investors evaluated the latest earnings results and concerns of disappointing profits. The 30-stock index added 22.34 points, or 0.07%, to end at 33,808.96, while the S&P 500 eked out a 0.09% gain to settle at 4,133.52. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.11% to close at 12,072.46. All major indices finished the week in the red, with the Dow falling 0.23% to snap a four-week win streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw the biggest decline, falling 0.42%, while the S&P slipped 0.1%. “There’s the continued push-pull of the fact that the economy has been a lot more resilient than many people expected and corporate earnings have held up pretty well, all things considered,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. Even so, he noted that...

Evan Symon of the California Globe reports that a bill to force CalPERS, CalSTRS divestment from fossil fuel investments passes second committee: A bill to phase out fossil fuel investments in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) state public pension funds was passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, with the possibility growing that a combined $14.8 billion in fossil fuel investments could be disinvested by the end of the decade if passed. Senate Bill 252 , authored by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), would specifically prohibit the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS from making new investments or renewing existing investments of public employee retirement funds in fossil fuel companies. Complete divestment from the companies are due by 2030, with an additional five years being given on top of that in case market conditions aren’t favorable for a divestment for a time. Both boar...

BCI and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala announced they are both anchor investors in India's Cube Highway Trust: Canadian pension investment manager British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”) and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor Mubadala Investment Company (“Mubadala”) have become the new anchor investors in Cube Highways Trust (“CHT”), an infrastructure investment trust (“InvIT”) in India. Cube Highways Fund Advisors Private Limited, the Investment Manager to InvIT, announced the listing of its fully subscribed privately placed ordinary units to INR 52,258.27 million (c. US$630 million). The InvIT has a diversified portfolio of 18 toll and annuity road assets with an aggregate length of 1,423.60 kilometres. BCI, Mubadala and domestic institutional investors have subscribed to the ordinary units. The first tranche of assets held by the InvIT will have 17 NHAI toll road assets and one NHAI annuity road asset. These road assets are located across 11 states, including Andhra Prades...

On Monday, CDPQ published its 2022 Sustainable Investing Report: CDPQ published today its Sustainable Investing Report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. In the report, CDPQ presents its actions and accomplishments in sustainable investment. Here are some highlights: Environment CDPQ is well on track to reach a net-zero portfolio by 2050: $47 billion in low-carbon assets, including $12 billion in Québec, which represents a global increase of $29 billion in low-carbon assets since 2017. Over $300 billion in low-carbon assets or invested in low-carbon sectors . A 53% reduction in the carbon intensity of the portfolio since 2017 . Three transactions were concluded as part of the transition envelope to reduce emissions from the largest emitting companies. Our exit from the oil sector is essentially completed . Social CDPQ is convinced that an ecosystem that promotes diversity in all its forms encourages the emergence of a fairer, more inclusive and per...

Barbara Shecter of the National Post reports Ontario Teachers' CEO on inflation, real estate and where the $247-billion fund sees opportunities today: Geopolitical uncertainty and macroeconomic headwinds pushed some of Canada’s top institutional investors into negative territory in 2022, but not the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan . The country’s largest single professional pension eked out a respectable four per cent return for the year, leaving it with $247.2 billion in assets and on track toward its goal of $300 billion by 2030. The Financial Post’s Barbara Shecter sat down with Teachers’ chief executive Jo Taylor to discuss the fund’s strategy, how it’s navigating inflation and where it’s finding opportunities in uncertain times. This interview has been edited and condensed. Financial Post: Teachers’ seemed prepared to weather macro-economic trends such as rising inflation and interest rates in 2022. What was your strategy? Jo Taylor: I took over as CEO around abo...