Pension Pulse

Paula Sambo of Bloomberg reports Canada pension fund's credit head wants to take advantage of leveraged buyout boom: Canada’s largest pension fund plans to nearly double the size of its credit holdings over the next five years, and it’s counting on an upturn in leveraged buyouts to generate some of that growth. Andrew Edgell, global head of credit investments at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said the fund expects to have more than $115 billion (US$84.1 billion) in credit assets by 2029, compared with about $62 billion today. Much of that will be handled by its in-house investment team, which is prepared for a thaw in the buyout market after a couple of slow years. “There’s pent-up demand. In discussions with sponsors, there’s a greater sense of optimism,” Edgell said in an interview. “There’s also so much dry powder that’s really pushing the LBO market to get unlocked.” Global mergers and acquisitions rebounded in the first quarter of 2024 compared with a

Florence Chong of IPE Real Assets reports ADQ buys 49% of infrastructure platform Plenary as CDPQ sells 20% stake ADQ, an Abu Dhabi state-owned investment company, has purchased a 49% stake in global public infrastructure group Plenary for an undisclosed price, believed to be around A$1bn (€609m). Canadian institutional investor CDPQ is selling its 20% stake. The remaining 29% interest in the Melbourne, Australia-based firm is held by Plenary founders and executives. As part of the partnership, Plenary and ADQ will establish a co-development and investment platform to focus on public and social infrastructure investments in high-growth geographies, including the Middle East and Central Asia.  ADQ will invest primary capital in Plenary to accelerate its growth in Australia, the Middle East, Asia, Europe. Plenary chair John O’Rourke said: “We have a strong strategic alignment with ADQ. The partnership will accelerate our growth in Australia and internationally, and the Middle East

Jordan Fleguel of BNN Bloomberg reports fight over where Canada's pension funds should invest is a 'clash of titans':  One of the main proponents of increased domestic investment from Canadian pension funds says there are two competing theories on the issue that each come to a different conclusion about what’s best for Canada’s pensioners and its economy. “It's a clash of titans, because we have two economic theories,” Daniel Brosseau, co-founder and partner at investment firm Letko Brosseau, told BNN Bloomberg in a Monday interview. Brosseau and his firm helped bring national attention to the debate over where Canada’s pension funds should be investing by penning an open letter last month to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland , urging policymakers to alter the rules for pensions to “encourage them to invest in Canada.” The letter received pushback from some members of the business community who argued that government should not interfere with pensions’ inv

The Canadian Press reports AIMCo's balanced fund earned 8.0% in 2023, falls short of benchmark: Alberta Investment Management Corp. says its balanced fund earned a net return of 8.0 per cent for 2023, short of its benchmark return of 9.3 per cent. The investment manager says its public equity investments earned 15.8 per cent, while its fixed income holdings earned 7.7 per cent.  The firm's private equity portfolio generated a return of 6.7 per cent, while infrastructure investments earned 3.8 per cent and its renewable resources portfolio returned 1.6 per cent. AIMCo's real estate portfolio lost 8.4 per cent, while mortgages earned 4.5 per cent and private debt and loan holdings returned 9.6 per cent. In 2023, AIMCo's total fund returned 6.9 per cent compared to a benchmark return of 8.7 per cent.  AIMCo, which had $160.6 billion in assets under management at the end of 2023, invests on behalf of pension, endowment, insurance, and government clients

Alex Harring and Yun Li of CNBC report Nasdaq falls more than 2% to post 6th straight losing day as Nvidia craters 10%: The Nasdaq Composite fell for a sixth straight session on Friday, notching its longest losing streak in more than a year. The downtrend comes as Nvidia dived, adding to recent market woes tied to geopolitical conflicts and sticky inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back 2.05% to 15,282.01, while the broad S&P 500 slipped 0.88% to 4,967.23 — below the 5,000 level. Both clinched their sixth straight negative days, streaks not seen for either since October 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.02 points, or 0.56%, to finish at 37,986.40. The 30-stock index was lifted by a rally of more than 6% in American Express following earnings . Netflix retreated more than 9% even after quarterly earnings beat on the top and bottom lines. The streamer’s subscribers jumped 16% from the previous year, but it said it would no longer report paid memberships sta