The OPSEU Pension Trust is reporting a net investment return of 15.3 per cent for 2021, a result driven by strong private equity performance.
In its 2021 funded status report, the OPTrust said its private equity portfolio generated a net return of 52.2 per cent. By comparison, public equities provided a net return of 12.9 per cent. The OPTrust’s average net investment return for the last 10 years is 8.9 per cent. And it maintained its fully-funded status for the 13th consecutive year.
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The pension plan — which currently has more than $25 billion in net assets — also lowered its discount rate from three per cent to 2.85 per cent last year.
“Our role as a pension plan is to look beyond the short term and into the future to pay pensions for generations of Ontarians,” said Peter Lindley, president and chief executive officer of the OPTrust, in a press release. “While the impact of the pandemic will be felt for years, together we have continued to move forward by doing what we do best: focusing on our members so they can have peace of mind knowing their pension is secure.”
In 2021, the OPTrust surpassed 100,000 plan members and welcomed the 50th plan sponsor to its OPTrust Select plan. It also appointed its first diversity, equity and inclusion leader to develop and implement a three-year strategy and has established more integrated and measurable approaches to responsible investing across the entire portfolio, according to the release.
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