Pension Pulse

Brian Evans and Sarah Min report Dow, Nasdaq close higher Friday, extending rally to a seventh winning week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher Friday after a whipsaw session, where it marked a fresh intraday record, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 closed at a record high, as Wall Street pushed both major indexes to their seventh-straight winning week. The Dow closed up 56 points, or 0.2%, at 37,305.16. The S&P 500 slipped 36 points, or 0.01%, to 4,719.19 while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 52 points, or 0.4% at 14,813.92. The Nasdaq-100 ended Friday at 16,623.45, topping its previous record dating back to November 2021. Shares of Costco closed up 4.5% after hitting an all-time high during the session. The retailer surpassed Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly results and issued a dividend of $15 per share. Both the 30-stock Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq notched their seventh straight positive week. As of Friday, the Dow is higher on the month by 3.8%. The ...

Jenni Spinner of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery reports private-label snack producer Shearer’s Foods changes hands: Private investment firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for funds it manages to acquire Shearer’s Foods , a contract manufacturer and private label supplier serving the snack industry in the U.S. and Canada, from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, Ontario Teachers’ (Shearer’s existing majority shareholder), will exit its position in the company. Founded in the early 1900s, Shearer’s is an award-winning supplier to large, well-known retailers and consumer-branded companies. The company has an expansive manufacturing footprint and diversified offering that has enabled it to become a leading manufacturer of salty snacks cookies and crackers products. Based in Massillon, OH, the company is led by executive chairman Bill Nictaki...

Low De Wei of Bloomberg News reports BlackRock, Aimco Back $800 Million Asia Infrastructure Fund: An Asia-focused infrastructure fund has raised $800 million from investors including funds managed by BlackRock Inc. and pension manager Alberta Investment Management Corp., amid renewed interest in the asset class. Set up by a small Singapore-based private equity firm in 2021, Seraya Partners Fund I has closed above its $750 million target, a statement showed Tuesday. Other investors include insurers, European family offices and sovereign wealth funds from Singapore, South Korea and North America, said James Chern, its managing partner and chief investment officer. Investors are attracted to the region despite risks like geopolitical tensions as infrastructure deals are trading at about half of US and European valuations, Chern said in an interview. “That’s money on the table,” he said, adding the fund has earned a gross percentage return in “the low 20s” so far. Seraya Partn...

The Montreal Gazette reports Rogers sells minority stake in Cogeco to CDPQ for $829 million: Rogers Communications announced Monday it has agreed to sell all its shares in Cogeco to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for $829 million in an effort to keep its investment-grade rating. Simultaneously, the Caisse announced it will become an “anchor investor in Cogeco Communications” after trading in Rogers’s shares in parent company Cogeco Inc. Under the agreement with the Caisse, Cogeco Inc. will buy back 5,969,360 subordinate voting shares of subsidiary Cogeco Communications from the Caisse, while Cogeco Communications will buy back 2,266,537 of its subordinate voting shares held by its parent company. The transaction sets the price of Cogeco shares at $46.91 and Cogeco Communications at $51.40, a 10 per cent discount on Monday’s closing prices. After the transactions, the Caisse won’t hold Cogeco Inc. stock, but will have 16 per cent of subordinate voting shares of ...

Amanda White of Top1000funds recently interviewed CalSTRS' deputy chief investment officer Scott Chan to look at its cost savings program: CalSTRS has saved more than $1.6 billion in costs since 2017 thanks to its collaborative model approach, which brings more assets in-house and encourages the use of different investment vehicles, including co-investment, joint ventures, SMAs, direct ownership and revenue share. Now, as it sets its targets for the next five years, it’s looking to measure the other benefits of the program, including boosted returns and more control over risks. As institutional investors around the world invest in more private assets, facing liquidity risks and resourcing pressures, they are often looking at how to evolve and adapt into a more direct-investing model. For CalSTRS, the $304 billion fund for Californian teachers, the evolution into private markets took on a slightly different approach through a collaborative model that focuses on partner...