Pension Pulse

Shatabdi Mazumdar of Digital Infra Network reports UPP invests in data centre developer Rowan Digital Infrastructure: Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and University Pension Plan Ontario has announced that UPP has completed a co-investment in a Quinbrook portfolio company, Rowan Digital Infrastructure . This investment builds on a partnership initiated in 2023 with UPP’s investment to Quinbrook’s Net Zero Power Fund. The financial terms of these transactions were not disclosed. Rowan was established in 2020 to provide ‘turnkey’ solutions for US-based hyperscale data centre users, or digital businesses requiring data centers engineered for large-scale workloads, infrastructure scalability, and streamlined network connectivity. Rowan’s flexible build-to-suit offering delivers customized and configurable solutions that provide its customers the ability to scale fast and help meet their energy needs from renewable sources. Quinbrook, a specialist global inve...

Zak Bentley of Infrastructure Investor reports on HOOPP's infra journey, going from zero to $7 billion in five years: Since emerging as an asset class in the 2000s, the infrastructure market has been propelled by Canadian direct investors such as CDPQ , CPP Investments , Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan , OMERS and PSP Investments , latterly joined by British Columbia Investment Management and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation . There was, though, a conspicuous absence of one member of Canada’s so-called Maple 8 pension fund group. The now C$112.6 billion ($81.7 billion; €74.8 billion) Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan remained out of the infrastructure fray until 2019, but has now amassed about C$7 billion of infrastructure assets to be the 46th largest investor in the asset class globally, according to our Global Investor 75 ranking released in June. Steve Smith, who has been with HOOPP since 2010 and was appointed to lead the infrastructure build-out, does...

Michael Katz of Chief Investment Officer reports CPPIB ekes out 1% gain in Q1, promotes Caitlin Gubbels to Head of Private Equity: The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board eked out a 1% investment return during the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (ending June 30), which raised its asset value to C$646.8 billion (US$472 billion) from C$632.4 billion the previous quarter. The pension fund also promoted Caitlin Gubbels to global head of private equity. The pension giant registered five- and 10-year annualized net returns of 7.8% and 9.1%, respectively, while the C$14.4 billion quarterly increase in assets was comprised of C$8.1 billion of net transfers from the Canada Pension Plan and C$6.3 billion in net income. The CPPIB attributed the slight investment gain, which swung from a loss the prior-year quarter, mainly to investments in the public equity and private asset classes, particularly in credit and U.S.-dollar denominated holdings. The U.S. investments, according to the CPP...

Louis Goss of MarketWatch reports Druckenmiller, Soros, Tepper among investors selling Nvidia in second quarter as tech stocks slumped: The recent slump in Nvidia’s share price has seen an assortment of the world’s top money managers cash in on gains made during the 2023 rally by ditching shares in the microchip maker as the stock hit all-time highs in the second quarter of 2024, new U.S. 13-f filings show. High profile investment funds including Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management, Soros Capital and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital all cut their stakes in Nvidia in the second quarter, the filings show. Nvidia’s NVDA share price is up more than 700% since the start of 2023 following a major rally in tech sector stocks fueled by the potential of artificial intelligence technologies . George Soros’ investment firm and Druckenmiller’s family office both cut their positions in Nvidia in the second quarter, as Tepper’s Appaloosa Man...