Pension Pulse

Bryan McGovern of Benefits Canada reports  Canada’s sustainable finance taxonomy group publishes final methodology report:  A working group tasked with establishing Canada’s voluntary sustainable finance taxonomy to establish and define green and transition investment categories has released its final methodology report. The new report indicates another step forward for the organization, which collected responses during a public feedback period, and now sets up the development of technical screening criteria and guardrails for specific sectors — electricity, buildings, transportation, mining, manufacturing and forestry or agriculture — by the end of 2027. Marlene Puffer, chair Canadian taxonomy and transition planning council, says the team received nearly 200 submissions during the public response opportunity.  “The ambition remains confirmed [and] that is net...

Shania Thomas of Reuters reports Silgan and American Industrial to buy Trivium Packaging in $3.4 billion deal:  Silgan Holdings (SLGN) and private equity ​firm American Industrial Partners said on Monday they would buy Trivium Packaging ‌in a $3.4 billion deal, as the US consumer goods packaging maker looks to expand its footprint in Europe.   Silgan, whose customers include Campbell (CPB) and Coca-Cola (KO) makes metal cans and dispensing products such as lotion ​pumps. Netherlands-based Trivium makes recyclable packaging material and is currently owned by ​Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Ardagh Group SA. The deal will combine Silgan's ⁠metal businesses with Trivium, creating a global metal packaging business valued at $7.3 billion, according ​to the companies. "Trivium is much more focused and has a much larger presence in ​Europe. So you kind of get that geographic benefit of both, and as we think about our increasingly global customers, we think that's a...

Mary Cunningham of CBS News reports tech stocks tumble as AI debt fears rattle Wall Street: Financial markets slumped on Friday as investors bailed on technology stocks amid concerns that companies exposed to artificial intelligence are starting to wobble.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 573 points, or 2.1%, to end at 26,140, closing out its worst week since June. The broader S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow Industrial Average sank 1.1% and 0.3%, respectively. Chipmakers and other tech companies have been under pressure this week as investors worry about the heavy borrowing associated with the emergence of AI and the rapid buildout of thousands of data centers required to provide computing power for AI models. So-called neocloud companies like CoreWeave, which provide the brute computing power AI models need to function, were particularly hard hit. That's because they are financing much of their capital expenditures through debt and equity issuance rather than cash flow, rai...

Lauren Bailey of Markets Group reports  Canada’s airport concessions put pension funds at a crossroads: Buy old or fund new?: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s proposed airport concessions could open some of Canada’s largest airports to pension investment, raising questions about whether acquiring established infrastructure assets is the most effective way to deploy institutional capital domestically. The proposal could give Canadian pension funds access to mature infrastructure assets with established cash flows, while allowing governments to recycle capital into new projects, said Sebastien Betermier, associate professor of finance at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management and executive director of the International Centre for Pension Management. Canadian pension funds have accumulated substantial experience investing in airports in international markets, including the U.K., Brazil and Eastern Europe. Yet Canada’s major airports, operated by nonprofit airport auth...