The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its net assets by $0.2 billion during its third fiscal quarter, pushing overall assets up to $368.5 billion, off a 1.1 per cent return.
“Broad declines in global public equity markets created a challenging investment environment during the quarter,” said Mark Machin, president and chief executive officer of the CPPIB, in a press release. “However, our net income increased during the downturn, underscoring the fund’s resiliency and ability to weather difficult conditions,
“Portfolio diversification across a wide range of private assets helped moderate public-market headwinds, especially in December. The fund also benefitted from its global investment footprint, as many major foreign currencies strengthened against the depreciating Canadian dollar, leading to investment gains,” he added.
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Investment highlights for the quarter included a $945 million allocation to GLP Japan Development Partners III, a Japan-focused logistics real estate venture; the purchase of a controlling stake in Brazilian hydro generation company Companhia Energética de São Paulo; and an agreement with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria to transfer a portfolio of credit rights with an aggregate outstanding principal balance of about 1,490 million euros.
The CPPIB also shed some assets, including its 45 per cent stake in the the Warner building in Washington, D.C., for US$47 million.
In other highlights for the quarter, the CPPIB issued its first euro-denominated green bond in January 2019. As well, in December 2018, the fund established a policy to vote against the chair of the board committee responsible for director nominations at investee public companies if no women were on their board of directors.
The CPPIB also noted it will begin to release financial results for the CPP base and CPP additional components separately, as well as those for the total aggregate CPP fund, at the end of its fiscal year.