Pension Pulse

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports  HOOPP rides stocks to 7.7% gain as market turbulence weighs on private assets: The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan leaned heavily on strong stock markets to report a 7.7-per-cent investment gain last year, even as returns from private markets were sluggish against a turbulent economic backdrop. HOOPP’s one-year results trailed the benchmark return that the plan uses to measure its performance, which was 8.6 per cent. That relative underperformance was partly attributed to challenges with two specific investments – one in infrastructure and another in private credit. But a 22.2-per-cent return from HOOPP’s portfolio of publicly traded stocks, which it bulked up last year after U.S. President Donald Trump announced broad and punitive tariffs, kept the plan’s investment gains near their longer-term average. Over 10 years, HOOPP’s average annual return was 7.8 per cent. Net assets increased to $132-billion last year, from $...

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports  Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan earns 6.7% return, marks down private equity and real estate assets: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan earned a 6.7-per-cent return in 2025, but missed its internal benchmark for performance by a wide margin as it marked down struggling private equity and real estate assets. The plan’s investment gains were bolstered by its publicly traded stock portfolio, which increased in value by 15 per cent, as well as its holdings in gold. Its smaller venture growth arm was up 30 per cent on rising valuations at companies such as Databricks, Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which is known as SpaceX. But Teachers’ private equity portfolio lost 5.3 per cent, against an 18-per-cent benchmark that is weighted toward public stocks. And its real estate portfolio lost 3.1 per cent, as the insolvency of Hudson’s Bay Co. hollowed out valuable real estate in a number of malls the plan owns. Overall, Tea...