Pension Pulse

Eliyahu Kamisher and Paula Sambo of Bloomberg report Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan prepares to sell stake in oil producer Aspenleaf: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is in talks to sell its stake in Canadian oil and gas producer Aspenleaf Energy Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. The pension fund’s stake is worth around $200 million, with the entire company valued at about $800 million, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the details are private. A sale might close as early as May, they said. Aspenleaf is backed by Ontario Teachers’ and ARC Financial Corp., a Calgary-based private equity manager that focuses on energy. The original private equity investment vehicle, formed more than a decade ago, is at the end of its life and other Aspenleaf shareholders are rolling their stakes into a continuation fund. But the Ontario pension fund has decided it would rather exit now, the people said. The C$247.5 billion ($181 billion) Ontario Teachers...

Pine Gate Renewables just announced a $650 million total investment from Generate Capital, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and HESTA: ASHEVILLE, N.C.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Today, Pine Gate Renewables announced the final closing of a $650 million investment from Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and HESTA. The investment provides funding to accelerate Pine Gate’s work as a national developer, owner, and operator of clean energy projects and will support the financing of an incremental three gigawatts (GW) of clean energy infrastructure by 2025. The transaction extends Generate Capital’s existing partnership with Pine Gate and brings new institutional investors to the solar developer’s platform. The scale of the investment validates Pine Gate’s long-term vision for growth, positions the company as a national market leader, and underscores confidence in the clean energy asset class. “Pine Gate is proud to expand our partnersh...

Samantha Subin and Yun Li of CNBC report the S&P 500 posts best week since November, Nasdaq surges 2% Friday as Alphabet soars:  Stocks jumped Friday, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched their best week since November as Big Tech names rallied on strong earnings and traders pored through fresh U.S. inflation data. The broad market index advanced 1.02% to settle at 5,099.96. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.03% to close at 15,927.90 and secure its best daily move since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.86 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 38,239.66. The S&P and Nasdaq clinched their best week since November. The S&P popped 2.7% to snap a three-week losing streak, while the Nasdaq gained 4.2% for its first positive week in five. The Dow edged up 0.7%. “We are finishing a volatile week on a strong note,” said Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. “It’s nice to see some green on the screen. Clearly one of the drivers h...

Paula Sambo of Bloomberg reports Canada pension fund's credit head wants to take advantage of leveraged buyout boom: Canada’s largest pension fund plans to nearly double the size of its credit holdings over the next five years, and it’s counting on an upturn in leveraged buyouts to generate some of that growth. Andrew Edgell, global head of credit investments at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said the fund expects to have more than $115 billion (US$84.1 billion) in credit assets by 2029, compared with about $62 billion today. Much of that will be handled by its in-house investment team, which is prepared for a thaw in the buyout market after a couple of slow years. “There’s pent-up demand. In discussions with sponsors, there’s a greater sense of optimism,” Edgell said in an interview. “There’s also so much dry powder that’s really pushing the LBO market to get unlocked.” Global mergers and acquisitions rebounded in the first quarter of 2024 compar...

Florence Chong of IPE Real Assets reports ADQ buys 49% of infrastructure platform Plenary as CDPQ sells 20% stake ADQ, an Abu Dhabi state-owned investment company, has purchased a 49% stake in global public infrastructure group Plenary for an undisclosed price, believed to be around A$1bn (€609m). Canadian institutional investor CDPQ is selling its 20% stake. The remaining 29% interest in the Melbourne, Australia-based firm is held by Plenary founders and executives. As part of the partnership, Plenary and ADQ will establish a co-development and investment platform to focus on public and social infrastructure investments in high-growth geographies, including the Middle East and Central Asia.  ADQ will invest primary capital in Plenary to accelerate its growth in Australia, the Middle East, Asia, Europe. Plenary chair John O’Rourke said: “We have a strong strategic alignment with ADQ. The partnership will accelerate our growth in Australia and internationally, and the Mid...