Limiting global warming is essential to institutional investors, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report models three different scenarios, examining the impact of average warming of two, three and four degrees Celsius over three timeframes: 2030, 2050 and 2100. For both investors and the planet, limiting warming to two degrees is ideal, […]
Venture capitalists provide value for investors seeking to make allocations to early-stage or emerging firms, according to research from Rustam Abuzov, a PhD candidate at the Swiss Finance Institute and University of Lausanne. “There is a recent movement of pension funds to do direct investments into venture capital, getting rid of the middle man like […]
After exceeding its target for low-carbon assets in 2018, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is now aiming to boost its low-carbon holdings to $32 billion by 2020, according to its second annual stewardship investing report. In 2017, the pension fund started with $18 billion in low-carbon assets in its portfolio and raised that to […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans’ solvency position rose in the first quarter of 2019, according to two new pension indexes. Representing the solvency ratio of a hypothetical plan, Mercer Canada’s index sat at 106 per cent on March 31, up from 102 per cent at the start of the year. The median solvency ratio of Mercer clients’ pension plans […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is acquiring a 30 per cent stake in a subsidiary of U.S. communications infrastructure firm Vertical Bridge Holdings. Established in 2014, Vertical Bridge currently has more than 266,000 sites, including 16,000 towers it owns or master leases. The firm intends to use the investment to prepare for 5G deployment by […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is investing $750 million in Aqua America Inc., the second largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility based in the U.S. The investment is an important step in Aqua’s efforts to obtain permanent financing for their pending acquisition of Peoples Natural Gas Co., according to a press release, which noted the acquisition will […]
With Brexit looming, European investor confidence dipped while North American confidence rose slightly in March compared to February, according to State Street Corp.’s latest global investor confidence survey. Globally, investor confidence rose 0.4 points to 71.3 in March. Confidence in North America rose to 68.3 from 66.2, while it declined in Europe by 7.8 points to […]
Jim Keohane is retiring from his role as president and chief executive officer of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan in March 2020. “Jim is well-respected around the world for his pension advocacy, investment strategy and leadership,” said Adrian Foster, chair of the HOOPP board of trustees, in a press release. “Under his leadership, he and […]
The Ontario Pension Board has appointed Chris Kautzky as its new chief investment officer. Set to start May 1, 2019, Kautzky will succeed Ken Lusk who’s retiring this year. For the past seven years, Kautzky has been a managing director at Aon Hewitt Investment Management Inc. Prior to that role, he was a partner at the […]
In a challenging 2018 market environment, the Ontario Pension Board finished the year with an annual investment return of 1.8 per cent, down from 10.8 per cent in 2017. “This return reflected the challenging investment environment in 2018, including slowing global growth, rising central bank rates that tightened liquidity and uncertain geopolitical events such as […]