Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan posts 13 pct return in 2015: Reuters

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of the world’s biggest infrastructure investors, achieved a 13 percent rate of return on its investments in 2015, it said on Wednesday.

The performance last year by Canada’s third-largest public pension plan compared with an 11.8 percent rate of return in 2014. The fund’s net assets grew to a record $171.4 billion (US$131.77 billion) at the end of 2015 from $154.5 billion a year earlier.

Ontario Teachers’, which administers pensions for 311,000 retired and working teachers in Canada’s most populous province, earned $19.6 billion from its investments during the year, up from $16.3 billion in 2014.

“Despite volatile market conditions, Ontario Teachers’ global diversified portfolio produced strong investment returns,” said Bjarne Graven Larsen, who was appointed chief investment officer on February 1.

Ontario Teachers’ pioneered a move by Canadian pension funds to invest directly in private companies, infrastructure and real estate internationally as an alternative to Canadian equities and government bonds.

The plan had a preliminary funding surplus of $13.2 billion on January 1. This was the third year it has posted a surplus after a decade of recording annual deficits.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

(This story has been edited by Kirk Falconer, editor of PE Hub Canada)

Photo courtesy of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan