The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the United Kingdom’s Henderson Global Investors(HGI)have signed a deal to buy a shopping centre in Canterbury, Kent for $541.6 million. HGI’s Henderson U.K. Shopping Centre Fund and the board have formed a 50/50 joint venture to purchase the Whitefriars Quarter shopping centre, which comprises 600,000 square feet of […]
Institutional investors are less confident this month than they were in June, according to State Street. The State Street Investor Confidence Index dropped 10 points to 87.0—the biggest monthly decrease since January 2004. Leading the decline were North American investors, whose confidence fell sharply to 95.8 from 107.0. The fall was mirrored in Europe, where […]
The rate of pension plan freezes among Fortune 1000 firms has slowed and most firms with defined benefit(DB)plans are committed to keeping them, according to Watson Wyatt. An analysis of pension plan sponsorship among Fortune 1000 companies shows that the share of plan sponsors freezing their plans dropped to 4% in 2007, down from 7% […]
The two largest public pension funds in the United States had double-digit returns on their investments over the past year. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System(CalPERS)earned an estimated 19.1% return on investments for the 12 months that ended on June 30, 2007—the biggest gain in nearly a decade. The percentage gain more than doubled the […]
Barclays is raising its offer for ABN AMRO to US$93.1 billion with the help of two financial partners in Asia. Still, the friendly bid is below the $98 billion hostile offer from a consortium comprised of RBS, Fortis and Santander. China Development Bank and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings have agreed to buy shares in the British […]
RBC Dexia Investor Services has been selected as custodian and securities lending provider for the Université du Québec’s pension fund. “After an extensive assessment of the capabilities of the various investor services providers in the Québec marketplace, we determined that RBC Dexia would provide the best overall fit for our organization,” said Richard Laflamme, general […]
The strengthening Canadian dollar largely erased healthy stock market gains in the second quarter, according to RBC Dexia. Canadian pensions earned 0.9% in the quarter ended June 30, 2007, bringing year-to-date totals to 2.9%—a lacklustre return, although still ahead of inflation. Although domestic stocks returned an impressive 6.3% in the quarter, the dollar’s dramatic rise […]
Oxford Properties Group, the real estate investment division of OMERS, has completed a deal to develop and manage Watermark Place, an 11-storey, 530,000 square-foot office building on the River Thames. The $500-million project is to be completed by September 2009. Oxford acquired a 250-year ground lease for the property from UBS Global Real Estate. “The […]
Burk Humphrey, from Sun Life Financial – Group Retirement Services is the new chairman of the CPBI board of directors for 2007/2008. The new vice-chairman & secretary is Kevin Press, from Sun Life Financial Total Benefits, representative of the Ontario region. Other board members are: Dale Weldon, from Johnson Inc., representative of the Atlantic region, […]
Dow Chemical intends to close its defined benefit(DB)pension plan to new workers in the United States beginning next year. New employees will be offered a cash balance account, which provides an annual accumulation of funds at 5% of pay, plus interest. “Dow began to evaluate the full spectrum of retirement options available after the U.S. […]