The market value of Canadian employer-sponsored pension funds totalled $1.2 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, according to Statistics Canada.
That’s a 3.1% increase over the previous quarter.
On an annual basis, the value of pension funds increased 9.3% in 2012, following gains of 4.3% in 2011 and 14.2% in 2010.
Pension fund investments in stocks grew by 4% in the fourth quarter, surpassing the 3.2% gain in the value of stocks on the TSX for the same period.
The value of bond holdings rose 0.9%, while investments in real estate assets and foreign investments rose by 6.1% and 5.7%, respectively.
Pension fund revenues grew by 16.6%, to $36.1 billion, in the fourth quarter. It was the result of special year-end pension contributions by plan sponsors as well as annual dividend payments from Canadian and foreign stocks.
Expenditures in the fourth quarter rose 10.3%, to $16.1 billion, due, in part, to increased benefit payments.
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