Pension Pulse

Mary McDougall, Alexandra Heal and Sun Yu of the Financial Times report pension groups cut back on pioneering private equity investments: Top pension funds are stepping back from competing head-on with private equity groups to buy up companies, instead opting to invest alongside them to secure access to the best deals. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) are scaling back the proportion of their funds exposed to directly owned private companies, while Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has said it is eyeing more strategic partnerships. A tough period for exiting investments over the past two years has encouraged the Canadian pension groups to back more companies alongside huge private equity managers as direct ownership has become increasingly challenging, requiring big in-house teams and a higher risk appetite. “The private equity downturn is making the direct investing model harder as we are facing a shorta...

Layan Odeh of Bloomberg News reports CAAT Pension Plan CIO hunting for more private investments at home: CAAT Pension Plan is searching for Canadian real estate and infrastructure investments, continuing its strategy of investing for the long term as U.S. President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policy disrupts public markets. Canadian investments comprise about a quarter of the Toronto-based fund’s $23.3 billion (US$17 billion) of assets, CAAT said in a statement Tuesday, when the pension reported a 15.2 per cent return for 2024. “We are very interested in continuing to invest in our own country,” Chief Investment Officer Asif Haque said in an interview, adding that the firm is also “intrigued” by opportunities in European private markets and Asian investments. Canadian pension fund managers are grappling with a new reality this year amid Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, which has disturbed public markets and weakened the outlook for U.S. private equity deals. While the...

Alex Harring and Pia Singh of CNBC report the S&P 500 ekes out a gain, Dow tumbles 500 points to post three-day losing run: The S&P 500 ticked higher in choppy trading on Thursday, but finished the holiday-shortened trading week lower as tariffs continued to worry investors. The broad index advanced 0.13% to close at 5,282.70 after swinging between gains and losses earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite inched down 0.13% to end at 16,286.45. But the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 527.16 points, or 1.33%, to settle at 39,142.23. The 30-stock index was weighed down by a 22% decline in UnitedHealth following the insurer’s earnings miss . Both the Dow and the Nasdaq posted three days of losses. Nvidia retreated almost 3% on Thursday, building on its drop of nearly 7% in the previous session. The artificial intelligence darling on Tuesday disclosed a quarterly charge of about $5.5 billion tied to exporting its H20 graphics processing units, or GPUs, to China and other...

Bryan McGovern of Benefits Canada reports PSP Investments monitoring global trade conditions amid calls to divest from Tesla: A federal public sector union representing more than 27,000 members is asking the Public Sector Pension Investment Board to divest any holdings in Tesla Inc. from its $264.9 billion portfolio. In a public statement, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees is calling on PSP Investments and “all pension funds in Canada” to ditch the electric car maker. “It is deeply concerning that Canadian public sector pension funds are being used to support a corporation whose owner is directly attacking the federal programs and workforce that deliver essential services for millions of ordinary Americans,” said Nathan Prierm, CAPE president and public service pension advisory committee member, in a press release. Tesla’s chief executive officer Elon Musk has aligned himself with U.S. President Donald Trump as an advisor. Trump drew the ire of ...

Earlier today, Vestcor announced it earned 12.2% net of fees, outperforming its benchmark: Fredericton, NB — Vestcor Inc. (Vestcor), Atlantic Canada’s largest investment management firm, is proud to announce a year of strong positive returns for its clients. Vestcor achieved overall investment portfolio returns of 12.2% net of fees, outperforming its benchmark by 0.1% . Through a strong investment performance, Vestcor’s assets have grown by over $2 billion in 2024, to a total of $23.1 billion. As a full-service investment manager and pension administration organization, Vestcor is committed to meeting the long-term investment objectives of all its clients. Vestcor’s clients require a disciplined, low-risk approach with strong internal active management. Vestcor has successfully exceeded long-term investment policy benchmarks while safeguarding client portfolios, adding $781 million, after investment management fees, relative to benchmark performance for the four-year peri...