The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System is reporting a return of 8.3 per cent as at Dec. 31, 2024.
The investment organization surpassed its 7.5 per cent benchmark for 2024 by achieving $10.6 billion in investment returns during the year. Its net assets grew from $128.6 billion in 2023 to $138.2 billion at the end of 2024.
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The investment organization’s latest financial report found that over the past 10 years, the OMERS has averaged an annual investment return of 7.1 per cent increasing the value of the plan by $70.5 billion.
The double-digit investment return for the OMERS was credited to the performance of public equities (18.8 per cent) and private credit (12.6 per cent) with private equities (9.5 per cent), infrastructure (8.8 per cent), public credit (six per cent) and government bonds (one per cent) rounding out the year-end result. Real estate (negative 4.9 per cent) was the only investment category that posted a loss in 2024.
In a press release, Jonathan Simmons, chief financial and strategy officer at the OMERS, said the organization positioned the plan well by taking actions to diversify its global portfolio.
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“[The] OMERS public equity investments delivered double-digit performance supported by strong contributions from private credit and infrastructure. Our net investment results benefited from our active strategy to maintain currency exposure to the U.S. dollar.”
He added that real estate returns assets were held back due to lower valuations while its asset mix continued to shift toward higher exposure to fixed income.
The investment organization also reported it reached a 58 per cent reduction in its portfolio carbon emissions intensity compared to 2019. Additionally, its allocation to green investments grew to $23 billion.
At the end of 2024, more than half (53 per cent) of the OMERS’ assets are located in the U.S. followed by Canada (19 per cent), Europe (17 per cent) and a combination of Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world (11 per cent).
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