Pension Pulse

Palash Gosh of Pension & Investments reports CDPQ posts 7.2% return in 2023: Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Montreal, delivered a net return of 7.2% in calendar year 2023, slightly below the benchmark return of 7.3%. For the five-year period, CDPQ returned an annualized 6.4%, above the 5.9% of the benchmark, said a Feb. 22 release. Over the 10-year period, the annualized return was 7.4%, compared with 6.5% for the benchmark. As of Dec. 31, CDPQ's net assets totaled C$434 billion ($327.4 billion), up from C$402 billion at the end of 2022. In 2022, CDPQ returned a net -5.6%, above the benchmark return of -8.3%. For 2023, by asset class, equities, which comprises equity markets and private equity, returned a net 10.1%, below its benchmark of 14.3%. For the five-year and 10-year periods, equities returned a net 10.9% and 10.7%, respectively, compared with benchmarks of 11.2% and 9.6%. With respect to public equities, CDPQ noted that since 2020, a "...

Mathieu Dion and Esteban Duarte of Bloomberg report Hydro-Quebec’s CEO says $137 billion power plan is drawing attention: The head of Hydro-Quebec said he’s confident the state-owned utility will find investors to back a massive expansion of a provincial electrical grid that’s expected to cost well over $100 billion. Chief Executive Officer Michael Sabia is pitching what he calls an “Action Plan” that may amount as much as C$185 billion ($137 billion) to build new power generation capacity and improve transmission reliability by 2035. The plan, unveiled in November, would see Hydro-Quebec’s capacity increase by nearly 25%, allowing the utility to meet demand for hydroelectricity and fulfill its power export commitments to the US. “The ambition of the Action Plan has managed to attract a considerable amount of attention in the financial markets,” Sabia said at a Wednesday press conference after the company released annual results. “We’ve also had a lot of very positive incom...

SWFI reports CPP Investments gets some liquidity from Kendall Square investment: South Korea is one of the most developed e-commerce markets in Asia with demand for quality logistics facilities. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) announced it has agreed to a restructure and sale of a 21% partial interest in the Kendall Square Development Venture (KDV I) in South Korea. Net proceeds to CPP Investments from the sale will be approximately US$ 245 million. KDV I is a joint venture set up in 2015 among CPP Investments, APG Asset Management, and ESR Group Limited to develop modern logistics real estate assets in prime locations within major strategic logistics hubs in South Korea. CPP Investments’ initial investment in KDV I was US$ 175 million. The joint venture was subsequently upsized in 2018 and 2019. CPP Investments will remain an investor with a 24% stake in a newly formed open-ended logistics core fund, which will house KDV I’s stabilized assets. CP...

Lisa Kalai Han and Pia Singh of CNBC report Dow slides more than 100 points Friday, major averages end 5-week winning run: Stocks slid Friday after yet another hot inflation report stoked fears that Federal Reserve rate cuts may not arrive until later than anticipated this year. The S&P 500 fell 0.48% to end at 5,005.57, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 145.13 points, or 0.37%, settling at 38,627.99. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.82% to finish at 15,775.65. All three major indexes broke their five-week winning streaks to end the week in the negative. The S&P 500 ended the week lower by 0.42%, while the Dow slipped 0.11%. The Nasdaq tumbled 1.34%. The producer price index for January, a measure of wholesale inflation, increased 0.3% . Economists polled by Dow Jones had anticipated a gain of 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, core PPI rose increased 0.5%, higher than the expectations for a 0.1% advance. The 10-year Treasury yield spiked above 4....