The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s board of trustees has named Jeff Wendling the new president and chief executive officer, effective April 1, 2020. Since joining the plan in 1998 as a senior portfolio manager on the public equities team, Wendling has had a long career at the plan. He led the public equities team […]
The OPSEU Pension Trust saw a strong 2019, ending the year with an 11.2 per cent net investment return and maintaining its fully funded status. The plan’s total assets grew from almost $20 billion of net assets in 2018 to almost $22 billion in 2019, according to its 2019 funded status report. In other highlights from […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is acquiring 717,701 additional shares of Azure Power Global Ltd., bringing its total holdings in the company to 24,259,272 shares, or 50.9 per cent of the total outstanding stock. Azure Power is an independent Indian solar-power producer with a portfolio of assets generating more than seven gigawatts. “We have built […]
The solvency levels of Canadian defined benefit pension plans are down off the back of roiling equity and bond markets in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey found DB plans were down 6.7 per cent on average, from 102.5 per cent in early January to 95.8 per cent at […]
The most material and least quantifiable risks for mining companies lie in the social component of environmental, social and governance issues — and that’s where institutional investors looking at the sector should be focusing their attention and advocacy. Speaking at a panel discussion in Toronto on March 3, Amy Freedman, chief executive officer of shareholder […]
After a week that saw coronavirus worries wallop equity markets into correction territory, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 0.5 per cent rate cut on Tuesday morning. Following suit, the Bank of Canada cut its target for the overnight rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday, bringing it to 1.25 per cent. For the Fed, […]
Close to a quarter (23 per cent) of institutional investors said they plan to reduce their cash balances, according to a new survey by BlackRock Inc. For fresh allocations, private markets remain the favourite by a wide margin. Indeed, more than half (55 per cent) of investors said they intend to up allocations to real […]
The funded status of Segal Group Inc.’s model multi-employer pension plan increased three per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a new report by the actuarial firm. During the quarter, the funded status of the hypothetical plan rose from 92 per cent to 95 per cent. However, this compares to 98 per cent during […]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average started the week by dropping about 1,000 points on Monday. Then on Tuesday, it did it again. For institutional investors grappling with such fully valued equity markets, a dip like this could represent a buying opportunity. But should they go for it? The coronavirus — worries over its further spread, […]
The gross income replacement levels for a typical capital accumulation plan have decreased by more than 10 per cent during the past 11-year bull market, according to a report by Eckler Ltd. After the financial crisis in late 2008 the economy rebounded, but more than a decade of strong stock returns weren’t enough to markedly improve the amount of income […]