Pension Pulse

Lauren Bailey of Markets Group takes a look inside the Halifax Port ILA/HEA Pension Plan’s ‘micro Maple 8’ strategy: Markets Group Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Blair Richards reveals how a small Canadian pension plan quietly outperformed expectations for decades — and why the traditional playbook was never going to be enough. In this wide-ranging conversation, the longtime CIO of the Halifax Port ILA/HEA Pension Plan shares how he transformed a conservative 70% fixed-income portfolio into a forward-thinking “mini Maple Model,” embracing private equity, private credit, and alternative assets long before it became mainstream. Richards explains how disciplined long-term investing, diversification across vintages, and a relentless focus on member outcomes helped the plan achieve a remarkable 134% solvency ratio and inflation-beating pension increases, while many other sponsors were abandoning defined-benefit pension plans altogether. He also opens up about o...

Matt Toledo of Chief Investment Officer reports  Ontario Teachers’ Pension Appoints Intelligence Strategy Head: The board of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced last week the appointment of Feifei Wu to the newly established role of senior managing director of investment technology and applied intelligence. Wu will lead the pension fund’s artificial intelligence strategy to strengthen governance and accelerate the adoption of the technology while partnering with investment leaders to ensure AI enables key business outcomes, according to the OTPP’s announcement. Wu will report to OTPP Chief Technology Officer Terry Hickey. “I am pleased to welcome Feifei to Ontario Teachers’ in this important role at a pivotal time in our technology journey,” Hickey said in a statement. “She brings a strong combination of technical expertise and proven leadership across global financial institutions. Her experience building high-performing technology teams and her forward-looki...

Monte Stewart of Connect Canada CRE reports  Kingsett, UPP Partnering on Canadian Industrial RE Investments: KingSett Capital and University Pension Plan Ontario are partnering to invest in income-generating industrial real estate assets in major Canadian urban markets, the institutional investors announced. The partnership will focus on acquiring multi-tenant, light-industrial buildings in supply-constrained markets, with an emphasis on assets where active management can support long-term value creation. The partners said Canada’s industrial sector continues to benefit from evolving supply chains, population growth and limited availability, supporting demand and rental growth in key markets. The initiative marks the first partnership of its kind for KingSett and expands UPP’s exposure to industrial real estate as the pension plan seeks to diversify its holdings and increase allocations to income-generating assets. “We are thrilled to partner with KingSett to ...

Samantha Subin of CNBC reports  Wall Street sees ‘changing of the guard in AI’ as Intel, AMD shares soar while Nvidia lags:  Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 and the start of the generative AI craze, one name has dominated the infrastructure boom: Nvidia . While the chipmaker — and the world’s most valuable company — continues to prosper and is expected to show revenue growth of 70% this fiscal year, Wall Street has moved elsewhere, piling into businesses that were hardly visible in the initial years of the artificial intelligence buildout. This week offered the starkest illustration yet of what Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein said could be a “changing of the guard in AI.” Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices and Intel notched gains of about 25%, while memory maker Micron jumped more than 37% and fiber-optic cable maker Corning climbed about 18%. All four of those companies have more than doubled in value this year, with Intel leading the way, up well over 200%. ...

Bill Curry and James Bradsaw of the Globe and Mail report pension funds should invest more in Canada, Senate finance committee chair says: The federal government should force the investment arms of the Canada Pension Plan and public-sector pensions to invest additional funds in this country rather than launching a sovereign wealth fund, says the Conservative chair of the Senate finance committee. In an interview with The Globe and Mail Wednesday, Senator Claude Carignan said the model – known as a dual mandate – has worked well in Quebec with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. “My position is that I think that the pension funds need to invest more in Canada,” the Quebec-based senator said. While the federal government has frequently said it wants to help create conditions that encourage such funds to invest more domestically, Mr. Carignan said urging voluntary action hasn’t worked and legislative changes should be considered.  “We could change their mandate an...