Pension Pulse

Ranjani Raghavan of Bloomberg reports  La Caisse buys US$1.3 billion stake in Indian telecom tower firm:  Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Canada’s second-largest pension manager, is investing 121 billion rupees (US$1.3 billion) in Brookfield Asset Management -backed Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust, which operates more than 258,000 telecom towers in India. La Caisse will acquire a 24 per cent stake in Altius, with Brookfield continuing as the largest shareholder, according to a media statement Wednesday. Other existing investors include GIC Pte and British Columbia Investment Management Corp. The deal reflects growing interest among global investors for Indian infrastructure assets, with Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and Macquarie Asset Management ramping up investments. Earlier this week, CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Temasek Holdings Pte, AustralianSuper and others backed the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd.’s latest fund....

CPP Investments kicked off a very busy week. Yesterday, the Fund announced it is expanding its commitment to India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund:  Mumbai, INDIA (August 31, 2026) — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) today announced a commitment of up to INR 20.7 billion ( US$215 million) to NIIF Infrastructure Fund II (Fund II), the second India-focused infrastructure fund managed by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIF), India’s sovereign-anchored alternative asset manager. Building on the success of NIIF’s inaugural infrastructure fund, Fund II will invest in infrastructure assets and platforms across India, with a focus on sectors benefiting from long-term structural trends including urbanization, digitalization and energy transition . NIIF was established in 2015 as a platform to attract private institutional capital to support the country’s infrastructure growth. CPP Investments and NIIF have a longstanding stra...

Matthew Sellers of Mergers and Acquisitions reports Quebec's pension giant exits USI as Aon strikes US$17 billion deal: Aon has agreed to buy USI Insurance Services from KKR and other shareholders f or US$17.0 billion (C$23.6 billion) , pushing the broking and consulting giant deeper into the US middle-market territory it first staked out with its purchase of NFP two years ago. USI has no meaningful Canadian footprint. Aon does: it has operated here since acquiring Toronto brokerage Reed Stenhouse in 1997, and today runs Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc. out of Toronto, with roughly 1,600 staff across offices in eight provinces and a retirement practice advising on more than C$77bn in Canadian plan assets. USI's business will sit almost entirely outside that structure once the deal closes, since it's ...

Sean Conlon, Lee Ying Shan, and Alex Harring of CNBC report the S&P 500 falls Friday after Fed’s Warsh highlights inflation worries, but index posts positive week: The S&P 500 fell on Friday, but still notched a winning week, after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh conveyed some worry over current inflation trends. The broad market index lost 0.25% and closed at 7,711.76, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.52% to 26,402.42, weighed down by losses in semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia and Intel . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9.45 points, or 0.02%, and ended at 53,559.99. The S&P 500 advanced 0.5% on the week, while the Nasdaq gained 0.9%. The Dow climbed 0.5% in the period for its first winning week in three. In his remarks at the central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Warsh said, “While this summer’s PCE and CPI readings were better than expected, they do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.” He also s...

Barbara Shecter of the National Post reports AIMCo assets top $200 billion as public equities drive gains: Alberta Investment Management Corp. surpassed $200 billion in assets under management with a 7.1 per cent net investment return in the first half of the year marked by conflict in the Middle East, U.S. trade policy uncertainty and evolving inflation expectations. The provincial Crown corporation that invests on behalf of pensions, endowments and government funds had $210.7 billion in assets under management as of June 30. Chief investment officer Justin Lord said the trade situation and other geopolitical and macroeconomic developments are front and centre for the globally invested fund, which has a strong presence in North America. About 40 per cent of AIMCo’s assets are invested in Canada. “A prolonged dispute, whether it’s in the Middle East (or) whether it’s trade-related, certainly could create headwinds for the Canadian economy, for the equity market,” he said...