Increasing exposure to less liquid, alternative assets like infrastructure, real estate and private equity hasn’t created difficulty for Canadian pensions in repaying creditors, according to a report by Moody’s Corp. As pension portfolios have increased their allocations to alternatives, with these assets now making up close to 40 per cent of Canadian plan’s investments, concerns around liquidity […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is taking a majority stake in Eolia Renovables de Inversiones, a Spanish renewable energy producer, from Oaktree Capital Management and other shareholders. “AIMCo is very pleased to become the majority shareholder in Eolia Renovables,” said Ben Hawkins, senior vice-president of infrastructure and timber at the AIMCo, in a press release. “The company’s […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board saw a net return of 0.6 per cent for the second fiscal quarter of 2019. With a total net assets of $368.3 billion as of Sept. 30, 2018, the fund added $1.7 billion during the quarter. “While returns were relatively flat in the second quarter, our teams performed well against our […]
While equity markets in North America experienced a difficult October, Japan’s equity markets may prove an attractive alternative given their relatively dampened valuations and companies’ historically high profit margins. “Part of the reason why we’ve started to move on our preference to upgrade Japanese equities has been that we are starting to see earnings on the […]
The political congestion likely to stem from the United States’ midterm election results has equally mixed implications for equity markets, with Democrats taking a majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans making further gains in their majority in the Senate. “A split Congress may bring gridlock, but the stock market has historically fared well with divided […]
For the first time since the Financial Services Commission of Ontario began monitoring defined benefit pension solvency in 2009, the province’s DB plans posted a median solvency ratio above 100 per cent in the third quarter of 2018. As of Sept. 30, the solvency ratio reached 101 per cent, up from 97 per cent the previous quarter. […]
While the millions of voices on Twitter can feel chaotic at times, could collective opinion be harnessed to provide insight on equity investments? A new study by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management believes so. Its researchers found that the aggregate opinion of numerous individual tweets before a company’s earnings report can successfully predict the subsequent […]
A contentious election in Brazil that’s held the attention of the global investing community came to a conclusion on Oct. 28, 2018, with far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro becoming the country’s president-elect. Canadian pensions have made some hefty allocations to the region of late. In the second half of 2018, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans saw a median return of 0.42 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, according to BNY Mellon Asset Servicing’s universe of 81 corporate, public and university plans. While not as robust as the previous quarters, the gains mark the tenth straight positive quarter, with the universe posting a one-year median return […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp., the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the Public Sector Investment Board have closed a previously announced plan to conglomerate their long-term timber investments. Originally announced in August 2018, the agreement affiliates timber investments TimberWest Forest Corp. and Island Timberlands Ltd. Partnership. Moving forward, the two organizations will continue as standalone companies, but share facilities […]