The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board closed out the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year with a 1.1 per cent net return.
The fund added $8.6 billion to its assets, with $4.5 billion in CPP contributions and the other $4.1 billion in net income.
“CPPIB’s investment programs performed well in the first quarter, achieving solid net income in local-dollar terms,” said Mark Machin, president and chief executive officer of the CPPIB, in a press release. “At the same time, the strengthening of the Canadian dollar against all major currencies in June dampened our returns overall, as the market responded to lower interest rate expectations in the U.S. and Europe.”
Read: CPP fund reaches $392 billion at 2019 fiscal year-end
Between the end of the last fiscal year and the end of the first quarter, the CPPIB added to its asset classes fairly evenly, with the exception of energy and renewables as a subcategory of real assets, which saw a jump from $8.2 billion to $9.6 billion. At the end of Q1, real assets made up 2.4 per cent of the portfolio overall, up from 2.1 per cent.
Marketable bonds also rose, from $63.9 billion to $66.6 billion. Indeed, most asset classes saw additional allocation, with the exceptions of real estate and infrastructure, which shed some holdings.
In terms of acquisition highlights for the quarter, the CPPIB invested £95 million in Visma, a provider of business management software and services in the Nordic and Benelux regions, upping the fund’s investment to £200 million for an ownership stake of 4.7 per cent.
In real estate assets, the fund established a 50/50 joint venture with Enbridge Inc. called Maple Power to invest offshore wind power projects in Europe.
And among public equities, the fund took on $200 million in Premium Brands Holdings Corp., a North American specialty foods maker and distributor, for an ownership stake of 7.1 per cent.
Read: CPP fund up $10.5 billion in first quarter fiscal 2019