The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan intends to increase its stake in Calgary-based NuVista Energy to help finance the takeover of Rider Resources. Teachers’ will invest $84 million dollars in NuVista and own approximately 14% of the company once the transaction closes sometime in mid-March. The fund currently has a 9.8% stake in NuVista. The proceeds […]
Integrated Managed Futures Corp. (IMFC) has launched two new trading programs, the IMFC FxVol Program and the IMFC Multi Strategy Pogram. The IMFC FxVol program aims to produce, over the medium term, substantial risk-adjusted returns on capital by investing in a balanced portfolio of both long and short “volatility” trades in the OTC FX options […]
Richard Nesbitt, currently the CEO of TSX Group, will join CIBC World Markets as its new chief executive next month after the bank announced it had nearly $1 billion in writedowns last year as a result of the subprime mortgage mess. CIBC also announced a couple other appointments: David Williamson, the former CFO of Clarica […]
Lower interest rates and volatile equity markets pushed pension funding ratios down in the fourth quarter. According to UBS Global Asset Management’s U.S. Pension Fund Fitness Tracker, the typical defined benefit (DB) pension fund in the United States ended the quarter at approximately 101%, down from 109% at the beginning of the quarter. “Volatility was […]
The chief executive of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), William Hunt, has resigned after State Street Corp. announced it would take a net after-tax charge of US$279 million in the fourth quarter. The purpose of the charge is to establish a reserve to address legal exposure and other costs associated with the underperformance of certain […]
While the labour market in Canada—particularly in the west—may be tighter than it was a year ago, some organizations are managing to achieve high engagement levels and hang on to their employees by offering flexibility, according to Hewitt Associates. The results of its annual Best Employers in Canada reveals that offering more flexibility does lead […]
Bullishness towards Canadian broad market equities has dropped to 28% of managers from 42%, according to the latest Russell Investment Managers Outlook. Despite the increase in bearishness, 77% of investment managers still expect Canadian equities to post flat to positive returns in 2008. “It seems that many managers are cautiously waiting to see how the […]
The clear trend among plan sponsors is towards closure or conversion of defined benefit pension (DB) plans, a trend that is stronger in Ontario than in the rest of the country, according to a survey by the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC). In Ontario, 30.6% of plans sponsors say they have considered or are […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has completed the purchase of 69.4% of shares in Chilean water services operator Esval and its subsidiary Aguas del Valle for $570 million. Complementing Teachers’ interest, CORFO, a Chilean government agency, continues to hold approximately 30% of the company; other investors own less than 1%. Esval continues as a public […]
The pan-Canadian investors committee for third-party structured asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) reached an agreement in principle on late Sunday afternoon regarding a comprehensive restructuring of the ABCP issued by 20 of the trusts covered by the Montreal Accord. “I am pleased that we were able to build on the momentum achieved leading up to our […]