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The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System is reporting a total fund net return of 3.1 per cent for the six-month period ended June 30, 2023.

The 12-month total fund net return was 7.8 per cent, while net assets totalled $127.4 billion, an increase of $7.9 billion over the last year, according to a press release.

Read: OMERS returns 4.2% for 2022, led by alternative investments

Public equities returned 5.9 per cent, supported by the OMERS’ core holdings in high-quality, large-cap stocks in the technology, communication, financials and consumer discretionary sectors. In addition, rising interest rates continued to support returns from bond and credit investments, which increased by 1.1 per cent and three per cent, respectively. While real estate returned negative 0.2 per cent, private equity (1.9 per cent) and infrastructure (2.8 per cent) had positive returns.

“These results underscore the value of a well-diversified portfolio,” said Jonathan Simmons, chief financial and strategy officer at the OMERS, in the release. “Strong gains in our public equities holdings drove our performance. Real estate valuations decreased in the first half of 2023, but this impact was more than offset by solid earnings from infrastructure and credit investments.”

Read: OMERS names Michael Hill as executive vice-president, global head of infrastructure