Canada’s economy is famously reliant on its rich natural resources, with a heaping helping of financial service providers thrown in for good measure. But when oil companies, mining outfits or Canadian banks are deciding how to invest the capital in their pension funds, does it make sense to steer clear of exposures that directly correlate […]
While the amount of alternative assets in institutional portfolios is holding relatively steady, the type of investments making up allocations to alternatives are shifting. Current allocations to alternatives rose just one per cent to 25 per cent since 2018, according to the latest research from EY. While hedge funds remain the largest contributor to the […]
Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is acquiring a strategic equity stake in German real estate vehicle, Golden Capital. Focusing on manage-to-core office investments, Golden’s portfolio consists of 39 properties in major German cities. The vehicle is run by asset manager, Lianeo Real Estate. “This investment […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is investing a further US$75 million in Azure Power Global Ltd., an independent solar power developer in India. Once the deal is approved by Azure shareholders, the investment will raise the Caisse’s stake in the company, from 41.4 per cent to 49.4 per cent. In October 2018, […]
New research from Greenwich Associates has found that institutional players have allocated US$47 billion to liquid alternative exchange traded funds, comprising a fair chunk of their allocation to liquid alternatives overall, which comes to US$882 billion. That said, only about one in 10 institutions have experience investing in liquid alternative ETFs. “However, about the same […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is acquiring US$250 million in convertible debentures from Piramal Enterprises Ltd. The Indian financial and industrial group is active in financial services, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing and health-care information management. The pension fund’s real estate subsidiary, Ivanhoé Cambridge, initially invested in the organization in 2017 through a residential real estate co-investment […]
Globally, the number of floods has quadrupled since the 1980s and doubled since 2004, which poses risks to both residential and commercial real estate investments. Yet, institutional investors are still struggling to quantify and manage the long-term climate risks to their private real estate portfolios, according to a new report by MSCI Inc. that looks […]
Investment management fees for certain asset classes have declined substantially, especially in sectors where managers have been under pressure from new competitors, cheaper alternative strategies or heightened visibility on total costs. The findings are contained in a new study conducted by bfinance, analyzing changes in management fees since 2016. Using proprietary data culled from actual […]
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 […]
For institutional investors looking at farmland, various strategies are available that span a range of asset classes, from real assets to private equity to venture capital, said Bernice Miedzinski, president of Starbridge Capital Ltd., during a webinar hosted by the Canadian Investment Review this week. Lower risk strategies include buying land and leasing it back to farmers, […]