Pension Pulse

On Monday, CDPQ announced it has become Alstom’s largest shareholder following the announced acquisition of Bombardier Transportation:
CDPQ’s total investment in Alstom will amount up to €2.78 billion (CAD 4.0 billion)At the transaction’s closing, CDPQ will hold around 18% of Alstom’s shares and two seats on the Board of Directors Alstom strengthens its leadership in sustainable mobility, a promising sector that benefits from strong trends related to urbanization and climate changeStrengthened presence and growth opportunities in Québec – with headquarters for the Americas, overseeing the work of 13,000 employees As part of Alstom’s proposed acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) today announced the conclusion of an agreement with Alstom to convert its current investment in Bombardier Transportation into shares of Alstom. CDPQ also announced an additional investment of €700 million in Alstom. CDPQ’s total investment will range from €2.…

Aparna Narayanan of Investor's Business Daily reports that Warren Buffett made some surprising buys and sells for Berkshire Hathaway in Q4:
Warren Buffett bought shares of Kroger (KR) and Biogen (BIIB) in the fourth quarter, but the investing legend further pared his Apple (AAPL) and Wells Fargo (WFC) stakes, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKB) latest quarterly 13F filings with the SEC showed.

Individual investors use the regulatory data to gauge where the "smart money," including the Oracle of Omaha, is placing its bets. The 13F filings show holdings at the end of each quarter, so big institutions and hedge funds may have made changes to stock positions since then.

Warren Buffett Buys Kroger Stock, Pares Apple Stock

Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stakes in Apple (AAPL) by 3.7 million shares, or a 1% cut; in Wells Fargo (WFC) by 55 million shares, a 14% cut; and in Bank of America (BAC) by more than 2 million shares, a fractional cut.

It left stakes in other top 10 stocks in…

William D. Cohan wrote an article for Vanity Fair on how hedge-funder Mark Spitznagel believes the central banks have created a monster they don’t know how to stop, and when it comes (like in 2008) he’ll be ready:
What do you do when the bond market is basically uninvestable and the stock market keeps hitting all-time highs and you know in your gut that none of this will end well? What do investors—big and small—do in such unfortunate circumstances, like the ones we collectively find ourselves in now? I’ve been racking my brain for years to figure that out. Increasingly desperate and with the end getting near, I called Mark Spitznagel, the founder of Universa Investments, a hedge fund that exists to help investors grapple with the inevitable market crash.

Spitznagel, 48, and a former trader in the Chicago pits and at Morgan Stanley, understands what’s been happening and how for the last decade central banks around the world have been warping our financial markets by keeping interest…