Three of Canada’s largest pension plans are among the top 10 pension funds that generated the largest compound annualized returns between 2013 and 2022, according to a report by data platform Global SWF.
The report, which measured the compound annual growth rate of pension funds’ single-year investment returns between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2022, found the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had the second-largest return (10.9 per cent) of all public pension funds, second only to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (12.1 per cent). The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (9.8 per cent) and the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (9.1 per cent) were ranked No. 6 and No. 10, respectively.
Other Canadian pension funds ranked in the report include the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan at No. 16 with a return of 8.6 per cent, followed by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan at No. 17 (8.3 per cent), the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System at No. 20 (7.5 per cent), the Alberta Investment Management Corp. at No. 21 (7.2 per cent) and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec at No. 28 (6.5 per cent).
Read: World’s top public sector pension investors hit by record losses: report
The report noted Canadian funds were also big sellers in 2023, including the Ontario Teachers’ sale of its stake in Shearer’s Foods and the CPPIB’s transfer of a US$1.5 billion buyout portfolio to investment firm Ardian. However, the report found the CPPIB, the BCI and the Ontario Teachers’ are all “highly biased toward their home markets.”
Overall, global public pension funds had a slow deal-making year. Just 268 deals, worth US$80.4 billion, were completed by public pension funds in 2023, a 17 per cent decline from the previous year; however, their assets under management increased from $22.3 trillion in 2022 to $23.1 trillion in 2023. The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was the largest spender last year, deploying $31.6 billion across 49 deals, representing a 33 per cent increase from 2022.
“From a macro perspective, the past 12 months were extremely challenging, with ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with persistently high interest rates and volatile financial markets and with the disruption of artificial intelligence,” said Diego Lopez, founder and managing director at Global SWF, in a press release.