Pension Pulse

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports pension funds overhaul board of fintech FNZ amid $4.6-billion lawsuit:  Major shareholders in London-based FNZ Group, including Canadian pension funds, overhauled the board of the financial software provider as they look to stabilize the company’s finances and fend off an ongoing shareholder lawsuit seeking US$4.6-billion. FNZ provides a digital wealth management platform used by some 650 financial institutions, including North American clients such as Bank of Montreal. Two of Canada’s largest pension funds own significant stakes in the company. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Montreal-based pension fund that manages $552-billion, is FNZ’s largest shareholder and invested early in the startup in 2018. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country’s largest pension fund with $864-billion of assets, invested US$1.1-billion in FNZ in 2022. Since then, the company, which was founded in 2003 in ...

Davis Giangiulio of CNBC reports Ken Griffin says Citadel unwound more than 80% of risk tied to Situational Awareness portfolio: Ken Griffin of Citadel in a letter to clients on Friday addressed for the first time the firm’s purchase of assets from Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness hedge fund.  According to a letter obtained by CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Griffin told clients that Citadel has unwound more than 80% of the aggregate risk from the original portfolio purchased by conducting more than 100 block trades over $4 billion in market value. Griffin detailed in the letter that Citadel entered discussions with Situational Awareness to acquire some of the fund’s holdings on July 29. One day later, CNBC’s David Faber reported that Situational Awareness was forced to sell all of its public stock positions after facing steep losses. Citadel was later revealed as the buyer of the assets. “A transaction of this magnitude could not have been completed without the extra...

Alexandra Heal of the Financial Times reports  Canadian pension giant turns to Blackstone and KKR to seal infrastructure megadeals: One of the world’s biggest infrastructure investors is turning to private capital groups to help it land megadeals, as firms such as KKR & Co. Inc., Blackstone Inc. and BlackRock Inc. expand their influence in a sector long dominated by pension funds . Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has built almost US$80 billion in exposure to energy and infrastructure by investing directly in companies. But in the past year it has started backing some of the biggest managers’ funds, it told the FT. “Infrastructure deals are becoming increasingly large,” said James Bryce, head of infrastructure at CPPIB. “As an investor with [a fund], are we able to open up for both of us deal opportunities that we may not have been able to chase on our own?” CPPIB’s shift demonstrates the extent of the infrastructure market’s transformation from a backwater where...