The Public Sector Pension Investment Board, along with Aviva Investors, is buying Galleri K, a real estate asset in Copenhagen, Denmark. The four-story building, which includes retail and leisure space, office space, storage and parking, is currently leased to many national and international brands. The deal builds on past co-investment partnerships between PSP Investments and […]
Oxford Properties Group, the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and the Alberta Investment Management Corp. are planning to develop the area around a Mississauga, Ont. shopping centre into a mixed-use neighbourhood. The development is set to transform the 130-acre area around the Square One Shopping Centre into 18,000 residential […]
The investment industry has been talking a lot about our position in the economic cycle and our proximity to a recession. In fact, I wrote about it last year with respect to interest rates and the economy. The current situation remains somewhat tenuous, with ever-present geopolitical tensions, rising populism (and hence protectionism), slowing global economic growth, monetary […]
Climate change’s ramifications for real estate, the rise of innovative technologies and the changing nature of stakeholder activism are some of the environmental, social and governance trends to watch as 2020 kicks off, according to an outlook from MSCI. While asset owners have been eyeing the potential effects of severe weather events and natural disasters […]
The current market environment continues to push institutional investors into alternative assets, seeking both yield and diversification, but not all options are created equal. Hedge funds, according to JP Morgan’s alternative asset outlook, will gain further traction as new technologies capture investor attention in 2020. “As tech spending continues across industries, our managers anticipate opportunities as […]
In the investment space, readers were focused on the moves of the big public pension funds and real estate investment in 2019, with the top three most-read stories tackling those topics. Benefits Canada rounds up the industry’s favourite investment stories of the year: 1. Canadian DB plans return median 1.7 per cent in Q3 2. Hugh O’Reilly stepping down from OPTrust 3. OPTrust partners […]
As private equity becomes a more sizeable part of Canadian pension portfolios, the British Columbia Investment Management Corp.’s resources and staffing are growing with it. In April 2016, when Jim Pittman joined the BCI as its senior vice-president of private equity, his group comprised six or seven people. Three and a half years later, the […]
In 2009, the Air Canada pension plan was in dire straits with a $2.6 billion solvency deficit. A decade later, it has a surplus of more than $2 billion. The complete turnaround is in part due to a new investment team that joined in 2009 and transformed the pension fund’s investments. With the $21 billion […]
Investing in residential real estate can offer benefits to pension plan sponsors, but it’s not an asset class that’s easy to access. However, a new strategy exists that harnesses the power of quantitative investing to make this option feasible for pension plans. Residential real estate should be top of mind for any institutional investor, said […]
The rise in alternative investing combined with an increased focus on integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into the investment process is leading pension plans to a natural question: how can they integrate ESG in real estate portfolios? The buildings sector has one of the highest carbon footprints, said Derek Warren, vice-president and portfolio manager […]