A debate on the viability of responsible investing is bubbling underneath the reaction to a recent U.S. Senate bill, aiming to further regulate proxy voting firms. Proxy voting firms help institutional investors complete shareholder votes, analyzing data and establishing votes that are reflective of a fund’s house views, while incorporating an increasing universe of potential […]
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is “embracing disruption” and looking to cash in on emerging shifts in the global economy, such as a move towards autonomous cars and a growing, aging population. The board benefits from a long-term investment and can look beyond any market cycle and invest based on large structural changes that will “fundamentally […]
The number of indexes at an investor’s fingertips grew by 12 per cent (or 438,000) in 2018, rising to 3.72 million distinct indexes globally as of June 30, 2018, according to a new report by the Index Industry Association. The association, which began tracking the world’s indexes in 2017, found fixed income was a popular theme during the […]
When looking for equity investments, how do changes in a company’s environmental, social and governance profile impact its stock price? This month, MSCI released a report called How Markets Price ESG, which found that changes in a companies’ ESG profile have been predictive of changes in stock prices. The study also found that equity markets […]
Increasing exposure to less liquid, alternative assets like infrastructure, real estate and private equity hasn’t created difficulty for Canadian pensions in repaying creditors, according to a report by Moody’s Corp. As pension portfolios have increased their allocations to alternatives, with these assets now making up close to 40 per cent of Canadian plan’s investments, concerns around liquidity […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is taking a majority stake in Eolia Renovables de Inversiones, a Spanish renewable energy producer, from Oaktree Capital Management and other shareholders. “AIMCo is very pleased to become the majority shareholder in Eolia Renovables,” said Ben Hawkins, senior vice-president of infrastructure and timber at the AIMCo, in a press release. “The company’s […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board saw a net return of 0.6 per cent for the second fiscal quarter of 2019. With a total net assets of $368.3 billion as of Sept. 30, 2018, the fund added $1.7 billion during the quarter. “While returns were relatively flat in the second quarter, our teams performed well against our […]
While equity markets in North America experienced a difficult October, Japan’s equity markets may prove an attractive alternative given their relatively dampened valuations and companies’ historically high profit margins. “Part of the reason why we’ve started to move on our preference to upgrade Japanese equities has been that we are starting to see earnings on the […]
The political congestion likely to stem from the United States’ midterm election results has equally mixed implications for equity markets, with Democrats taking a majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans making further gains in their majority in the Senate. “A split Congress may bring gridlock, but the stock market has historically fared well with divided […]
For the first time since the Financial Services Commission of Ontario began monitoring defined benefit pension solvency in 2009, the province’s DB plans posted a median solvency ratio above 100 per cent in the third quarter of 2018. As of Sept. 30, the solvency ratio reached 101 per cent, up from 97 per cent the previous quarter. […]