Pension Pulse

Last month, Vestcor put out a press release on its annual results stating it continues to exceed long-term clients objectives amid a historically challenging year: Fredericton, NB – Atlantic Canada’s largest investment firm once again exceeded the long-term investment objectives of its clients, protecting the assets of clients and their members through a particularly challenging year in the financial markets. Vestcor Inc. (Vestcor), an independent not-for-profit company based in Fredericton, NB, offers global investment management and pension and benefit administration services to a number of public sector entities. While many pension plan managers experienced double digit negative returns during a historically challenging year, Vestcor’s results provided reassurance that their lower risk approach required by many of their Shared Risk and Target Benefit Plan clients support the sustainability of these pension plans to the benefit of their members. Vestcor achieved overall ...

CPP Investments put out a press release stating the CEOs of leading Canadian pension plan investment managers support the inaugural International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards: June 28, 2023 – Today, CEOs of 11 of Canada’s leading pension plan investment managers, representing more than $2 trillion in assets under management, call on companies focused on long-term value to embrace the new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) disclosure framework, launched this week. Together, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CPP Investments, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, OMERS, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, OP Trust, PSP Investments and University Pension Plan have issued a joint statement in support of the inaugural ISSB standards (“Standards”) . The new ISSB standards help consoli...

Benefits Canada reports BCI’s net assets grow 3.5% in fiscal 2023, led by alternatives: The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. saw a return of 3.5 per cent and increased its assets under management from $228.6 billion to $233 billion during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. According to the investment organization’s annual results, the $3.9 billion increase reflected investment gains of $6.8 billion and $2.8 million in net withdrawals. Over the past 10 years, the BCI has seen annualized returns of 8.5 per cent. “We have been preparing for a difficult market economic environment and our results are a testament to the merits of our proactive approach to risk management, portfolio diversification and active investing,” said Gordon J. Fyfe, the BCI’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer, in a press release. The annual results were led by the strong performance of the alternative portfolios. Its infrastructure and renewables portfolio saw the str...

Tommy Wilkes, Simon Jessop and Supantha Mukherjee of Reuters report Canadian pensions manager invests $400 million in Swedish battery maker Northvolt: LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) has invested $400 million in battery producer Northvolt, which will help the Swedish company expand production of lithium-ion batteries ahead of a possible initial public offering. Northvolt, which counts BMW and Volkswagen among its investors, last year delivered its first battery cells from its gigafactory in Skelleftea in Sweden. The group has raised more than $8 billion in debt and equity since 2017 in its bid to become Europe's biggest battery manufacturer, including $1.1 billion in convertible notes last year from multiple investors . In its largest deal in Europe yet, IMCO has invested $400 million in Northvolt through convertible notes, it told Reuters. "Northvolt really fits with a lot of the trends we are trying to in...

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced that along with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, it will acquire Compass Datacenters from RedBird Capital Partners and Azrieli Group: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its institutional partners (“Brookfield Infrastructure”) (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN) and existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (“Ontario Teachers’”) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement with RedBird Capital Partners (“RedBird”) and the Azrieli Group (“Azrieli”) (TASE: AZRG) through which Brookfield Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ will acquire Compass Datacenters, LLC (“Compass”). Founder and Chief Executive Officer Chris Crosby and the current Compass management team will continue to lead the company post transaction closing. Compass has scaled rapidly, particularly with its mega campuses in North America, and has been recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest growing companies for the past three years. T...