Pension Pulse

Tanaya Macheel and Yun Li of CNBC report the S&P 500 rises for a third straight day to end a wild week of trading: The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out gains on Friday, wrapping up a volatile week on Wall Street. A move by China to ban cryptocurrencies weighed on the technology sector and Nike shares fell as supply chain issues stemming from the pandemic hit the sneaker giant. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 33.18 points, or 0.10%, to 34,798.00. The S&P 500 edged 0.15% higher to 4,455.48 and the Nasdaq Composite shed about 0.03% to 15,047.70. “As bad as things started off on Monday for stocks, a mid-week bounce and calm on Friday isn’t so bad,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial. “Still, many of the worries over Evergrande, a slowing economy, and continued supply chain issues are still out there.” The Nasdaq trailed the other major averages on a week-to-date basis but edged up into the green for the close. T...

Gideon Scanlon, editor of the Canadian Investment Review, reports on how UPP is building on jointly governed pension model with a pandemic launch: When the University Pension Plan officially launched in July 2021 , it did so with Barbara Zvan as its inaugural president and chief executive officer. Fresh from a 25-year career with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, she was appointed by the UPP’s board of trustees in July 2020. While most of the foundational work had been done by the time she joined, it would be up to Zvan and a team of full-time employees and contractors to carry the project over the finish line. “It’s been an interesting experience. Most of the people haven’t met one another in person. We don’t have an office yet. We needed to find people with expertise who knew what to get done, people who are flexible and excited about being part of a startup.” It’s not difficult to see why Zvan was seen as the ideal candidate. At the Ontario Teachers’, she rose from an a...

Barbara Shecter of the National Post reports Ontario Teachers' to buy HomeEquity Bank, known for reverse mortgages:  The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board is acquiring the parent company of HomeEquity Bank, best known for its reverse-mortgage business, from Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc. and other minority shareholders. The purchase of the Schedule 1 bank is subject to regulatory approvals, expected in the first half of 2022. Financial terms were not disclosed. Teachers’ said the bank is “well positioned for sustained growth” as more Canadians near retirement age, a prime time for reverse mortgages that provide loans against a home while the borrower continues to live there. “HomeEquity Bank is an excellent fit for our growing portfolio of leading financial services firms,” said Karen Frank, senior managing director of equities at the pension fund. “We believe the company has a high-quality management team, a solid value proposition for consumers a...

Fraser Tennant of Financier Worldwide reports that a consortium as bought Australia's WestConnex toll road A$11.1 billion: In an AU$11.1bn transaction that gives it full control of one of the largest road infrastructure projects in the world, a consortium led by Australian road operator Transurban is to acquire 49 percent of the WestConnex toll road in Sydney. The consortium, Sydney Transport Partners (STP), already owns 51 percent of WestConnex – an approximately 70km-system of toll roads – after it purchased the stake from the New South Wales (NSW) government in 2018 and emerged as the top bidder for the remainder. In addition to Transurban, which owns 50 percent, STP, AustralianSuper and Tawreed Investments are also partners in the consortium. Following the acquisition of the remaining 49 percent stake of WestConnex, AustralianSuper and Tawreed Investments will maintain their holding in STP, while the consortium will add Canada’s Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) as...