Canada’s fledgling cannabis companies should implement strong governance protocols and show they’re attempting to address material environmental and social risks to grow their base of institutional investors. Speaking on Friday at a panel discussion on cannabis companies and governance practices nearly a year after legalization, Michelle de Cordova, a principal at ESG Global Advisors Inc., […]
The massive uptick in private equity investing is changing how companies raise capital. The private equity industry has grown by 500 per cent since 2000, according to research by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute. It found the increased interest from institutional investors is leading growing companies to seek fresh capital from the private markets rather […]
Looking at South Korea today, it’s hard to believe the country was one of the world’s poorest just a few decades ago. But since the 1960s, its economy has been growing quickly. “In fact, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, it had one of the highest growth rates in the world, and at times in […]
Pension funds are diversifying into alternatives in an increasingly challenging environment for returns. But many of the traditional characteristics institutional investors seek to achieve by investing in alternatives may not actually be present depending on the particular asset class, said Michael Sager, vice-president and client portfolio manager in multi-asset and currency management at CIBC Asset […]
Norway’s largest pension fund, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, is divesting its holdings in five oil sands companies, four of which were Canadian. KLP’s stake in Canadian firms Cenovus Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Russian company Tatneft PAO was a combined US$58 million, with US$33 million in equity and US$25 million in bonds. […]
The solvency positions of Canadian defined benefit pension plans declined slightly in the third quarter of 2019, according to new surveys from Aon and Mercer. Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey reported a drop to 98.6 per cent from 99.3 per cent in the second quarter, while Mercer’s pension health index recorded 94 per cent […]
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is closing the largest private construction loan in Washington, D.C. history alongside Hoffman-Madison Waterfront. The first phase of the wharf, a waterfront neighbourhood that includes residential, hotel, office, retail real estate and public spaces like waterfront parks and piers, opened in 2017. This latest loan is for the second phase of its development. […]
More than half (52 per cent) of institutional investors said they think a political or world event, such as Brexit, will impact portfolio performance over the next 12 months, according to a survey by Schroders. And that number is on the rise. The survey, which polled 650 institutional investors with a combined US$25.4 trillion in […]
After years of dramatic post-Soviet growth, Poland is a major contender in the global marketplace. However, it’s a mixed bag for institutional investors, who are finding both opportunities and limitations in the market. The country is holding up well in an increasingly challenging global environment where other economies are seeing growth slow, said Rachel Van Elkan, the […]
A group of institutional investors representing more than US$500 billion is calling on the U.S. Congress to vote down the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement to prevent extended monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies in all three countries. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which represents more than 300 religious institutional investors, pension funds, foundations, asset managers […]